This blog has moved!

After lots of thought, I decided I needed a change.  After nearly 9 years of online journaling, "Littleshika" isn't really who I want to be anymore.  So, if you're interested in keeping up with me, may I introduce you to my new blog:



http://lifeunderquilts.blogspot.com/

 I thought the change was timely, what with bloglines ending at the end of the month.  I have also changed my email (jessunderquilts) address (at yahoo dot com) and I'm working on switching over some stuff to a new flickr account as well.  Thanks for reading Littleshika, I hope you follow me to my new blog too!

challenge

At the last meeting of the NYC MetroMod Quilters we had a scrap bag swap.  Someone suggested we come to the next meeting with something made entirely from the bag of scraps we took home.  intriguing...

but I'm a scrap hoarder and when I do use them, I need to mix it up, a lot.  I felt trapped by the challenge to use only what was in that baggie and to make something new, not just follow my usual routine of receive-wash-sort into current scrappy project piles... But that's what "challenge" is all about, right?

Here's what I came up with.

In the end, i couldn't stop myself from pulling fabrics out of my own scrap bin and using them too.  I tried really hard not to, but sometimes my eyes tell my brain what the block needs and my hands just reach out  and grab it, you know?  So there are 5 or 6 additions to the scrap baggie I received... and now that it's all together, they really stick out! OMG.  But anyway, if I don't tell you, will you be able to find them?  hope not.

This piece is small, the blocks finish at 7.5", making it 22.5"x 30".  I stopped sewing because I was kind of at an impasse as to where to go from here.  Add a large plain border and make it a wheelchair quilt for donation?  Add a more interesting scrappy strip to that large plain border and then feel more attached to it and not want to give it away? (At the moment I don't feel much attachment at all, so I thought it's a good one to finish up and pass on.)  Bring it back to the Mod Quilt meeting next month and see if someone else wants to add borders and/or finish it off in some new and interesting way?  Suggestions welcome.

I love these blocks though, and I think I really need to keep making them and then turn them into something big and wonderful like my original inspiration quilt, here.  This little piece would look good with a leafy appliqued border too, but then I'd never give it away...

Status Update

So Jake's quilt is quilted and the binding is partially on (this has become my new project to work on while George is in the bathtub.  Don't worry, I'm not a neglectful mother, the bathroom is very small).  I also basted the spiderweb quilt after struggling for what seemed like weeks over what to do about the backing.  It feels good to have that all sandwiched and folded up out of the way.  Quilting will start eventually, but i feel like a huge weight is off the design wall/sewing room floor now that both of those projects are at a more advanced stage before school starts (tomorrow!).  But now that I'm "done" with those two (well, not done, but you know what I mean) my fingers have been itching to piece something.  and I really didn't want to start any new quilts, heck, I'm taking a full course load this semester!  But that's just how my creative mind works.. so 2 nights ago I was pouring over pineapple photos and block patterns on the internet, and last night it was bear's paw.. I felt up for some intricate piecing.  Still not wanting to tackle a full sized quilt, this afternoon I found myself making a mug rug.  And then tonight I made another. 

Cute.  Satisfying. 
Now let's see if I can focus on school for a little while..

I don't like cold babies

Especially the babies of my dear friends.  In fact, if it were up to me, little babies would always sleep under lovingly made quilts. 

Scratch that.  EVERYONE would always sleep under lovingly made quilts.  But until my favorite pastime catches on with the masses like a new iPhone, I guess those of us who quilt will just have to keep stitching away to warm up those we love.

This is the quilt that's been at the top of my to-do list and hanging on my design wall ALL SUMMER.  I am definitely happy to have the top together, and I'd love for it to be quilted by next week.. cross your fingers for me?

(many many thanks to Amy who sent all the colored squares!)

Three out of four ain't bad!

She called me up out of the blue last week and asked me for 3 colors. 

"blue, green & brown, that was easy"

not so easy actually as we proceded to have a discussion of exactly which green and what type of blue, as only quilt friends are clearly able to do over the phone.

It was a well-timed phone call actually, George was asleep and I was finishing stitching the binding down on my latest wall hanging, made spur of the moment and over 2 days.  Inspired by the generocity of a friend that is often too good to me. 

So I asked what her 3 colors would be. 

"Lime green, magenta, orange & royal purple"

Totally glad she gave me 4 because I hadn't used lime green at all..

And unlike her thoughtfulness, I hadn't thought to call ahead and ask what colors she wanted.. but that really wasn't something to get worried about.  It's easy to make something she likes when I'm sewing from her scraps already..

 The star centers, most of the background (except for the purple above), the sashing and all but one of the star points came from the accumulated scrap stash of 3 or 4 huge envelopes she has been sending me since this time last year.  The binding was left over from this quilt, with a bit of green thrown in.  The backing (and i had to really dig in the stash for a magenta backing) is from waaaaay back in ATL in '02, from Joann's, I think.  The quilting is my first attempt at freemotion meanders and while I'm not proud to show it off, I am proud to have overcome my fear of freemotion and actually try it.  I hope my novice stitches don't stand out too bad among the other beauties on her Mini Quilt wall..
(btw, we need a pic of that mini quilt wall.)

Hex Crazy

It's been years now that hexagons have been all the rage in quilt-blogland.  There seem to be hundreds of tutorials, flickr groups, quilt-alongs.  People are fussy cutting their fabric into swiss cheese!  And all the while I was patiently stitching diamond to diamond, wondering what all the fuss was about.
Until this spring, when i decided to give it a try...
And you know what? I don't like it. 

They go together quickly and in a short amount of time you can have a fairly large section pieced, but I don't like the actual piecing them together.. my diamonds always came together into little units of 3, 5, 8, or 12, and then fit together like puzzle pieces.  This hex business is just -add one, -add one, -add one...
I know it would be different if I were using paper templates that bend, or if I chose some type of pretty pattern, but you know me-- Scrappy, Using what I have -- and so this is how I feel.

I piece 6 petals onto a center hexagon before popping out the center one and folding to stitch the petals together.  This is necessary because the Quilt Patis templates don't bend like paper and awkwardly holding the 2 petals and doing a less-than-perfect stab stitch got old back with this project (when i used to join 3 diamonds to make a hexagon).  I love English paper piecing for its simple rhythmic motions and its ability to relax and calm me.  I don't have much patience for awkward routines and so I try to adjust where I can to eliminate them.  I think when I tire of diamonds I should buy some paper templates and make something like this one Bonnie is working on.  Until then, I don't think I'll be calling myself a hex fan.  If this project gets done it will sit to remind me of my short ride on the bandwagon and then how I jumped off, content to let the insanity go on without me.  I'm not sure I want to party with all those hex crazy people anyway..

Travel Quilt #2 has 276 stars!

This is not the post I had in mind for today, but I just left a comment on Julie's blog sharing my knowledge and love of Quilt Patis templates and thought that it was about time to show the progress on Travel Quilt #2.
I actually worked on it for a few minutes yesterday-- basting one edge so I could pop out the hexagon templates for another English paper piecing project, but the task of appliqueing the center to the border is still a little daunting (in how much time it will take, not it the actual sewing involved) and I haven't been ready to tackle that just yet.

Anyway, earlier this month I was invited to demonstrate my EPP technique at the local library's quilt group.  Connie was nice enough to take pictures of me, but I wish I would have staged them a bit better to show more of the quilt.

I showed off Travel Quilts #2 & 3, and then had the ladies each take a template, 2 paper clips, and a piece of fabric and then taught them how to baste with just 5 backstitches.  A lot of them had done EPP in the past and tried to do running stitches or looked puzzled that they couldn't stitch through the plastic.  Connie nicely referred them to the video on my blog sidebar, which I sent along to Julie this morning.  It's not perfect, but it has helped some people, so why not share?

It was nice to get out for an evening of quilting, I hadn't done that it a long time.  It seems my time as the president of the Silver City guild is such a loooong time in the past.. I think it would be nice to join a local guild again.  Maybe I can try again now that George is a bit older... wish me luck~

August 20th

I made something, but it's not ready to go public just yet, so here's a sneak peek..

more pics and the whole story next week, I promise!

just the 3 of us

I also did a little cutting for this project.

I bought this panel on my trip to Japan in 2007.  We didn't have kids then, but we were trying, hard.  I thought I'd make this wall hanging for our old house once we succeeded.  We did succeed eventually, but we combined "new baby" with "new house" and I even made a "new quilt" for the house to keep myself busy in a stressful summer of pregnancy and house selling/buying.  I read Texas Freckles' post today about all the stuff she's going through and commented on how I try to enjoy the slow moments in preparation for the hectic ones. It seems like I've had a lot of hectic moments between finding this panel and deciding what to do with it.  I hope I've got enough quiet ones to piece and quilt it before things get too hectic again.

Sometimes you cut, and sometimes you sew

After what's turning out to be a very productive month in my sewing room, I was quite content to spend today's naptime just cutting fabric.

This morning I sorted through a pile of scraps from Shannon and made little sub-piles to be cut down and put into 3 projects I've got in the works-- Travel Quilt #3, a leaders & enders with 2.5" squares, and then I set aside some bright centers and tiny triangles for my new obsession-- maverick stars.
I have been so inspired by the creative energy on display over at 15minutesplay that the other night I handed Costas a small clock and asked him to tell me when 15 minutes had passed.  It turned out that these stars take 20 minutes start to finish (including finding, pressing & cutting fabric), but once I started I just couldn't stop. 

I don't have any plans for these right now, but it's so fun to use the teensy tiny scraps in my triangle box for the star points.  I like having this project waiting on a corner of my cutting table so I can whip one up when i know I only have 20 minutes. 

Oldies but goodies

While I was at home in Chicago, I had the chance to take some better photos of the quilts I made for my dad and sister in 2007.  I love going home at taking the time to pour over them again, studying, remembering, reliving the making of both quilts.  It's different then seeing the quilts I have around my house that are just part of the backdrop of my daily life.  I miss these quilts, but I'm happy they provide color for the backdrop of my parents' house.

Crosses - front:

Crosses - back:

I loved this fabric and I'm so glad I used it here because if not, it would probably still be in the stash..

Comfort Star for Lori:

This was my first attempt at crumb blocks, and "making" fabric for the 9 patch center:

a close up.  I could stare at this quilt for hours:

Whenever I go home my sister patiently listens as I retell her about every patch in her quilt.  Where it came from, how long I had it, if I used it anywhere else.  She is so patient with me.  I guess she has the patience of a quilter, but she has the gift to spend it on people instead of fabric and stitches.

the tedious part

With a toddler in the house (or is he a preschooler now?  he sure does talk a lot..), aside from when he's asleep, we pretty much do everything together.  I try to split the day between stuff he wants to do and stuff I want to do. 

thankfully he was patient with me yesterday, and I definitely appreciated his meticulous nature and attention to detail.

the borders are on but i still have about a million more papers to rip off the back. 

I think I'll do the rest on my own though because he has gotten a lot stronger since the last time we did this. 

I'll throw the backing fabric in the wash today and buy batting by the end of the week.  So, basting this weekend?  I can hope..

Random quilt of Kindness

Sometimes friends can surprise you with overly generous random quilts of kindness.  This came from Shannon earlier in the summer (and I'm sorry I didn't post it until now!).  Aren't I lucky?

The magenta quilting shows up really nicely on the soft salmon pink of the back.  I currently have it hanging with this side showing to gear myself up for upcoming freemotion quilting..

I wonder if I'll have the courage to tackle pebble quilting in the next year?

It's good to be home

so good it seems, that I'd rather be cleaning, sorting, playing, sewing, cooking or just enjoying my home and my family than playing catch-up in blogland.  you know I haven't even signed into facebook in weeks?  Some times real life is just too much fun..

The munchkin and I have been working towards finishing another quilt, one for George this time.  It's adorable when he walks into the sewing room and says, "It's a quilt, for ME!"

The end is in sight

The end of our Greek summer, and of piecing the stars of Travel Quilt #2.

Today I basted the last of the star patches onto the plastic templates.  I have 7 stars to piece, and then a bunch of light blue background pieces to work in.  It won't be done before we leave Wednesday, but I'm really happy with the progress I've made.  I thought I'd take the time to upload a few pictures taken over the life of this quilt..

This was the beginning-- fall 2007.  Ahh, the good old days, when Costas would play his guitar while I sewed.  (this was his facebook profile picture for a long time.. until we had George, i think.)

Even though I had a lot of random fabrics from the beginning, my hopes were for this quilt to be mostly blues and greens.

That didn't exactly happen.  Looks like I'm a more "use what you have" type girl than I realized. 

I keep these two photos in my sewing kit-- the one above shows the part that's finished already-- what I left in NY just before we came to Athens.  The one below shows the color placement of what needed to be done.  I had never laid out an entire section like this before-- I always just pieced stars and then arranged them as I liked once I had 4 or 6 ready.  But now that I was so close to the end, I wanted to take exactly what I needed with me on this trip because I had hoped to finish it.  It was kind of strange working from this photo-pattern.  I kept having to look at it and lay it out so I wouldn't mess it up.  Very unlike me... usually I leave room for a little "fate" in my block placement :) 

And the last pic is a close up of how I started burying my knot at the start of piecing-- I take 2 or 3 teensy stitches and end at the corner I want to start sewing.  I have also started backstitching a few times at the end of my thread.  I really hope this quilt holds together for a long time...

It's already 11 p.m. so I should probably skip stitching tonight and just head to bed.  Tomorrow will be full of packing, sorting, and laundry.  I think we have a million people to say good-bye to as well.  But it was a good trip, such a good trip.  I'm actually leaving this time thinking it might not be so bad if we came to live here someday.. (mom, don't cry..)

Pictures of Greece, part 2

Last weekend we spent 3 days in Kymi, on the island of Evoia.  People, I swear, this has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my life.  Costas commented to one friend about how beautiful it was, and the friend said, "it's not beautiful, it's paradise."

We stayed at a really nice hotel overlooking the Aegean sea, you know, the kind where the pool kind of melts into the sea? (in appearance only, there's actually a 2 story drop and a road, but those aren't in my picture..)

And what did I do at the pool?  Quilt, of course.

This is a shot from the restaurant's terrace, you can see the road (which doesn't have a guard rail in some parts..)

I wanted to take so many other photos of this place, but the car was moving too fast.  I was also preoccupied with George's potential carsickness.  I hope I only have to hand wash the carseat cover once this summer..
It was sooo beautiful though and that weekend, we all relaxed.  The perfect getaway to recharge your batteries.

Vay-Cay

Dee said she wanted to see some pics from our "vacation" (funny to call it that, 5 weeks is a long time to be on vacation), and I was caught a little off guard, I hadn't been planning to post any.  I guess in my head I'm so wrapped up in quilty thoughts that it didn't occur to me to share the scenery from this corner of the world. 

But, I guess it wouldn't hurt..

George at the beach in Nea Makris

An evening stroll

The view from the car as we drive from the house to the beach (little winding mountain roads; this year we discovered that George gets carsick..)

Is he too young to appreciate the sunset?  That's why I take pictures..

ok, that's all for the first installment.  I'd love to promise I'll post them all on flickr, but honestly, I don't think I'll have the time.  All free time must be spent sewing to preserve sanity.  Sometimes 5 weeks with the inlaws can really focus a girl on her quilting...

heat

I said to Costas in the car on the way back from Kymi, this has probably been my best trip to Greece.  And it has, until this week when we're stuck in the house with a 38 degree + heatwave.  The heat is my only real complaint though.  Surprizingly, I'm stitching right through it.  I have made tremendous progress on Travel Quilt #2 and I really thought I might finish the piecing before we go home next week, but I probably have 20 more stars to piece, and that's just not going to happen without a babysitter, hehe.
So we're hot, but happy.  I would like to update more, but real life needs me more than the internet does. I'll try to check in again soon..

midnight snack

it's 10:45p.m. but I'm seriously considering baking these tonight...
don't worry, they're not for me.  we've got an invitation for a luncheon tomorrow and I thought I'd bring something American..

public crafting

years ago, Whip up (does anyone still read whip up?) had a month of posts on public crafting.. and well, i'm still at it.

Today I put George down for a nap and scurried off to the salon down the street for one of the best pedicures I've ever had.  I swear, Greek pedicures have Long Island pedicures beat, hands down!  First of all, they take about an hour, compared to the 20 minute Korean-American version.  And my feet are soooo soft afterwords!  but back to my story...

George was asleep, I needed to quilt.  But, I also needed a pedicure.  Obvious solution, quilt at the salon.  I haven't ever done this in the States, but I've quilted in loads of other public places (starbucks, airports, you get the idea) so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Thankfully, the salon employees were too stylish to show their shock too openly, but the owner's husband who lead me to the waiting area and offered me a coffee looked a little confused when I pulled out my stars... I just smiled and said I was fine. 

The girl who did my pedicure was polite about the quilting, but no one here ever shows any real interest.  No matter, I pieced a bunch of stars together and this section is growing pretty fast, which makes me happy.
I left the salon with cute toes and tons of self confidence, feeling refreshed and pampered.  It was fun, let me know if you try it too.