4.25.2011

THE quilt on speed.


ummm...so remember a few days ago when i was a bit worried that perhaps i might never finish pringle's quilt? yes well, apparently my fears were completely groundless. i was totally possessed and energized on saturday, so i got to work.

totally wacko knee pads.

i laid out all the circles...crawling around on my makeshift kneepads (some of the mister's socks strapped to my knees) until i was completely satisfied with the placement of each circle. around the time my knees were ready to fall off, despite the "knee pads," the circles were ready for pinning. since my knees could take no more, i flopped onto my rump and scooted around pinning down every single circle. and then i had to iron each circle to activate the fusible interfacing (glue) so the circles were attached to the background fabric. finally i had to sew circles around the edges of each circle. holy bananas.


did i mention that there are ninety-two circles? just in case you did not get it the first time, there are NINETY-TWO circles!!! as you can probably imagine this entire process was rather overwhelming. needless to say, it is with relief and disbelief that i can tell you the front of the quilt is complete. well, as long as you are willing to ignore the seven empty spaces reserved for the fabric en route from the mister's family in lesotho.


next step...the back of the quilt. the little pieces are all sewn together. now i am waiting for the rest of the fabric to arrive (hopefully tomorrow). once i have it i can finish the back and then finish the whole quilt. gasp. it is starting to seem like maybe, just maybe, this quilt will be finished before the little one's arrival. phew.

4.23.2011

THE quilt snooze.

the glorious roman glass pastel.

it has been a little while since my last post. considering that there is a new life brewing in my belly, a slightly overwhelming quilt project in progress, and the regular nonsense that is my existence, you would think i would have something to say. i do, except i have been sleeping. a lot. oh and trying to get semi-prepared for the impending arrival of little pringle.

my "extra" fabric from fabric.com. yum.

but it is time for a quilt update. although i have been hitting the snooze button a LOT, i have accomplished a few tasks. i officially decided that the backing fabric will be roman glass pastel - big thanks to those of you who put in a vote. it is expected to arrive on tuesday and i canNOT wait. of course, all i had to do was spend an extra $15 to get free shipping, so naturally i had to buy some other goodies. poor me. i got a couple simple, but lovely designs. but back to the quilt. after coming up with a design two weeks ago, i finally finally finally cut all the pieces for the back. it was hard to find the time in between all my sleeping, but it happened.

lots of backing pieces...yahoo!!

it has been a few weeks since i have pondered the front of the quilt. i cut out the background fabric, marked the edges of the design space with masking tape, and started laying out circles. my plan was to arrange the circles by size...spreading the various sizes out evenly across the whole design. sadly the result was a discombobulated hodgepodge. then i tried arranging the circles by color and voila...i was in love. but that leads us to a BIG problem. i am STILL waiting for the fabric coming from lesotho. it has been in transit for over a month and we have no idea when it will arrive. super frustrating, but what can you do? sooooo after waiting another couple weeks, i finally gave in to the fact that i have to begin sewing without this fabric in hand. the mister called his sister to inquire about the colors of the expected fabric, so i will  be able to save spaces and start sewing. 

messy hodgepodge. this layout clearly ain't working.

long story short...today i am officially laying out all of the circles. i have strapped a pair of the mister's socks to my knees, because my ordinary methods of squatting or crouching are simply not gonna happen with my mondo-belly. instead i will be crawling around on my makeshift knee pads. awesome. soon, very soon, i will post some pictures of quilt progress.

4.09.2011

THE quilt conundrum.


when people think of quilts, the focus is always on the front of the quilt. but after putting hours and hours of work into a quilt, it seems silly to make a boring back. after all, with just a little extra design you can have a second quilt. fancy. sounds simple. but then you throw me into the equation and it becomes enormously complicated. first of all, i want to incorporate each of the fabrics that were sent by friends and family. ohh-kay, that is a lot of fabric, but with the perfect design it is going to work.

the design.

second, i need a base fabric (the large greenish sections of the design) that will be interesting enough to make a "second" quilt, but simple enough that it does not outshine all the other fabrics. oh and it has to be gender neutral, because pringle is a surprise. in other words, the perfect fabric. mmmhmm...no problem.

marimekko unikko.

luckily, mrs. nipper knapp recently succeeded in nudging me to expand my fabric horizons, beyond the local joann's fabric store, to include the internet. now i am confronted with overwhelming amounts of fabric, to say the least. i immediately fall in love with the glorious marimekko unikko fabric, which i have convinced myself, despite the flowers, is not gender specific. great! until i discover it is $43 per yard. jeepers. that is a bit much, even for my beloved baby.

back on the prowl, i  spent three hours perusing etsy, fabric.com, and purl soho. after ogling hundreds (maybe thousands) of different fabrics, i narrowed my list to nine contenders. and then the mister came home and put in his two cents and we are down to four choices. now we need your help. please please tell me your thoughts....or pick a favorite or two (keep in mind these swatches only show 4" of fabric and the quilt will be about 50" square). grazie.

roman glass pastel (kaffe fasset).

illuminating dots lime (penny lane).

paperweight lime (kaffe fasset).

stones earthy (naturella).

4.08.2011

THE quilt day 7.


this is the second to last round of circle creation. we are still waiting on fabric from the mister's family, but since it is traveling over eight thousand miles, from a country with a dubious (at best) postal system, we are not sure when it is to be expected. this weekend i have plans to start figuring out the arrangement of the circles. i have a lovely digital representation, but it needs to happen in reality. and maybe, just maybe, i will begin the official sewing. i am having an internal debate about the merits of hand sewing versus machine sewing. i suspect technology will win, but one can never be sure. i am thinking that any inkling i have for the idea of hand sewing is prompted only by my desire to utilize my darling needle holder...

me thinks everyone should have a snazzy needle case.

anyhow, with no further ado, the latest round of circles, which came to us from california, new york, and dubai.


p.s. just in case you were wondering...it is officially too late to send fabric. but thank you for thinking of us!!

4.03.2011

THE quilt day 6.


a wee bit of time has passed since the last installment of quilt news, but there are good reasons. first, the mister and i went on a much needed and first-ever vacation. oh we have traveled together, but we have never gone somewhere, just the two of us, for the sole purpose of relaxing and spending time with just each other. ummm...i do not know why we waited four years to do this. i guess we had some idea that it would require lots of planning or money or time. it did not. we drove two hours, found a lovely little motel on the beach, and plunked down for two days of doing whatever we felt like doing whenever we felt like doing it. it was dreamy.

lounging at vero beach.

second reason is that i have officially entered the third trimester of pregnancy and my weekday energy has been zapped right out of my bones. which leaves me the weekends for sewing. long story short, yesterday was my first day of sewing in ten days. gasp!

this time around we have circles from california, virgina, florida, and germany.


the last bits of fabric are trickling in from around the globe. despite wanting to wait for every last person i have ever known to send fabric, on march 31st, i finally decreed that i would no longer accept new offers. so the last pieces of cloth are making their way to us and the design is finalized. phew. i cannot wait to start putting it all together!