WIP Wednesday #2

Miss Matilda's Olivia quilt is quilted, which I got finished before the Comic Con weekend. The binding has been machine stitched onto the front, and I'm in the process of hand stitching the back, which is about 1/4 done so far.

I started quilting it with uneven parallel lines, which became more and more wavy as I progressed across the quilt top. I like the wavy lines more, but the difference isn't all that huge, and after it gets washed, I doubt it'll be that noticeable. Certainly it doesn't bother me enough to take out the stitching on one side to re-do it. Live and learn!



Uneven parallel lines. (Sorry, not enough natural light to get good pictures!)



Wavy parallel lines.

This past weekend we also went to a ragamuffin parade with the kids, so they got to dress up in their Halloween costumes and play around at the carnival that was there too.

And that evening we carved one of our pumpkins with them, as they'll be with their dad for Halloween weekend.

We used one of the stencils that came with the carving tools: a Crow.



Besides that, the biggest WIP that's happening at the moment is the scrubbing of my kitchen! Woohoo!

Busy Busy!

Things have been a little crazy around here. For 4 days last week I was at New York Comic Con (October 13-16), helping Jeff out as his personal and live stream assistant at the booth that the company he works for was running there.

I've never been to a Comic Con before, though I've wanted to attend one. The one in San Diego is the comic con that seems to have gotten most of the name, so until last year I wasn't even aware there was one in NYC too. 120,000 tickets were sold for the 3.5 days, so this is no obscure event. Besides comics, which do make up the bulk of the booths (well-known and smaller and tiny indie publishers, independent stores, artists and writers), there are booths for console/computer games, and a couple of movies (like the upcoming Avengers movie).

Thursday afternoon was for the Press, and VIP ticket holders, so that wasn't too busy. After that, it was kind of crazy from 10am until the days ended at 7pm (5pm on Sunday). So, a couple of very long days, that started VERY early. We were lucky that our evenings weren't booked with other post-con events, so we did manage to get some sleep too. Overall it was a fun experience. I got to know a bunch of the people Jeff works with better, I was able to see little bits and pieces of the show, and also do some awesome things like get one of our Mouse Guard graphic novels signed by the creator (& author & illustrator), the hugely talented David Petersen. Mouse Guard is a really lovely series set in a medieval era with sentient mice, guardsmice who guard the mouse territories and cities. I was also lucky enough to get a hold of a signed limited edition print of Lady Mechanika, another comic series that Jeff and I like a lot. And at the Dark Horse comics booth, artist Jenny Frison signed a poster for an upcoming comic that she did the wonderful cover art for: House of Night. Good times, and I was glad to get my geek on a little in that way.

So that was the event that prevented my working on much. I did get the Olivia quilt quilted, and I have about a quarter of the binding stitched on (I like to hand stitch the back). Currently the house is getting a pretty thorough cleaning, which is eating up quite some time. But a tidy house makes me feel better about doing sewing. Between being away for a couple of weekends the past month, and having a lot of incoming stuff, things are a little more cluttered than usual. We're also planning on hosting a Halloween party this upcoming weekend, so time to get everything in gear!

WIP Wednesday

On Monday I picked up my Flipside quilt again, and took what I'd assembled apart again (2 rows of blocks and the sashing between them), and reassembled them with some tweaking so that the inaccuracies are either gone or much less noticeable (spray starch with the pressing was a lifesaver here, smaller pieces tend to be so much easier to get pulled out of shape, and this stops that quite a bit). I'm much happier with it, though there are still 2 other rows that need to be attached, and the sashing will need to be duly tweaked, because those inaccuracies from having pieced almost half of each block on a terrible and inaccurate sewing machine before I got the new one certainly took its toll. Ah well, onward and upwards!

Here's what I have so far (Lieam made himself at home almost immediately):



And yesterday I managed to get the Olivia the Pig quilt for Miss Matilda basted. Apparently I need to do this during the day and not in the evening. For a start, the kids are at school for large portions of the day (though yesterday they were with their dad), and the cats are asleep most of the day, which stops Miss Isobel from lying on it immediately, and Mr Lieam from tearing across it as though it's a playground, as he is wont to do when I make the bed as well. Both he and Shiloh L-O-V-E it when you make the bed or fluff the sheets and covers. I'm not sure why it tickles them so, but it does.



Now, this isn't a large quilt at all, but man do your knees hurt after sitting that way for a while basting the entire thing. I'm a bit iffy about the idea of spray basting, though I guess it washes out completely? The fact that my knees wouldn't feel like I'm 85 when I get up after half an hour on a wooden floor makes it appealing though. Ideas?

I hope to get the Olivia quilt quilted tonight, it'll be some simple quilting, probably wonky lines straight across. I haven't decided on grey thread or white or possibly to go for pink. I made the binding a few weeks ago, so I don't have to worry about that, and can sew that on pretty easily. The binding will be Kona Charcoal with bits of the red with white polka dots interspersed.

Oh, and I extended the dining table and put the leaf in. This gives me a bit more working space, and also enough space on the table that I can keep project stuff on one end, and have enough room for everyone to sit comfortably and eat at the table. I do so long for a separate work room! I have to say I was a little bit envious of seeing Julie Herman's lovely new work space on her blog yesterday. So much sun and light in there! A very happy place to work in.