Tuesday, February 25, 2014

welcome to the north pole sew-a-long

This year,  I am psyched up about having joined several sew-a-longs and block-of-the-month online programs. I have stayed on top of things so far, but it is still just February. I wonder if I have the staying power to complete all of them? Hmm.. I am certainly going to try. It will probably get a little more difficult in the warmer months when I don't want a warm quilt on my ready warm lap or want to spend more time outdoors than in. Maybe I will just have to take the sewing machine outside when it gets warmer!

Welcome to the North Pole with Val Spiers has become a revived SAL with several new participants - I being one of them. I really didn't know what I was getting into when I joined this program; I thought it was be easy cheesy. Boy, was I wrong! I spent all morning trying to get my fabrics right on the first block - Mr. and Mrs. Claus' House. I really loved the green fabric for the main house, and cut a smaller entrance way in green as well, but it didn't stand out the way I wanted it too. I returned back to the blue and added the blue shutters. The chimney was also an afterthought or change of fabric; it was first in browns. I might change the front door to brown?!

I am not going to appliqué until I have a few more blocks finished. I want to see more of a collection of blocks before I make an impromptu decision and change things later.

With the snow on the bottom, I went with the idea of cutting three inch wide strips, folding in half and sewing along the edge of the block. I made some ripples and sewed very close to the edge below the house and hill. I like the 3-D appearance of snow and drifts. I could add more stitching to the snow later. We'll see. So far, I am quite content.

I could really envision hand stitching lots of details.....this is a very exciting journey for me. I am feeling much better about it today than when I made the block. I am now looking forward to the next block and have already picked the color scheme for it.

One thing I have to remind myself about BOMs or SALs in that I shouldn't put too much weight on one individual block. In the end, it will be a collection of blocks. The overall impression is more important. Better said than done sometimes, right? I also like to hang the block up and live with it for a while.

I am curious to seeing what the other lovely ladies have done on their North Pole blocks!

Keep sewing and thanks for dropping by.
Karen

Friday, February 21, 2014

acronyms in the quilting world

When I first started to sew, it took me a while to understand some really basic acronyms in the quilting world. Granted most of these I learned online. I think the very first acronym I learned was FQ which is rather simple - a fat quarter. But over time, there have been a few more that challenged me. Have you ever heard of a QIP or FMQ or the fairly new FO? Are you sometimes lost too? Here is an alphabetized list of some of the acronyms and terminology of our shared language. Please feel free to add more to the bottom of the list in the comments!


401F
Fabric for Retirement
401P
Patterns for Retirement
AK
Ample Knitters
Binding
any number of ways to close up your quilt
Block
a unit used in a quilt
BOB
Beginner’s Only Block (swap)
BOM
Block of the Month
Border
framing your patchwork with strips
BSS
Basic Sewing Supplies
CC
Counter Cut
COC
Cream On Cream
CQ
Crazy Quilting
DJ
Dear Jane
D4P
Double Four Patch
DIC
Double Irish Chain
DIY
Do It Yourself
DSM
Domestic Sewing Machine
DWR
Double Wedding Ring
EQ
Electric Quilt (Software Program)
F8
Fat 1/8th (9” x 22” piece of fabric)
FART
Fabric Acquisition Road Trip
FHS
Free Hand Sewing
FIU
Finish It Up
FM
Free Motion
FM
Free Motion Quilting
FO
Finished Object
FOB
Fear Of Binding
FQ
Fat Quarter
FSUI
Fabric Shopping Under the Influence
FW
Fusible Web
GFG
Grandmother’s Flower Garden
HMQS
Home Machine Quilt Service
HP
Hand Piecing
HQ
Hand Quilting
HST
Half-Square Triangle
HSY
Haven’t Started Yet
LAQ
Long Arm Quilter
Linky Party
Link to your post or photograph
LQS
Long Quilting Sewer
LC
Layer Cakes
LQ
Liberated Quiltmaking
LQS
Local Quilt Shop
MAQ
Mid-Arm Quilter
MGBTQ
Must Get Back To Quilting
MQ
Mystery Quilt
MQG
Modern Quilt Guild
NQR
Not Quilt Related
OBW
One-Block Wonder
OSMG
Old Sewing Machine Guy
PG
Patchwork Group
PHD
Project Half Done
PIGS
Projects In Grocery Sacks
PIM
Project In Mind
PIP
Project In Progress
PIT
Project In Tote
PIW
Project In Waiting
PP
Paper Piecing
QAL
Quilt A Long
QAYG
Quilt As You Go
Quilt
anything that has layers and has been made by you!
Quilting Bee
an organized time for quilters to get away
QFH
Quilt From Hell
QG
Quilting Guy
QIP
Quilting In Public (Naughty, naughty!)
QR
Quilt Related
QUIMM
Quilt In My Mind
QOTD
Question Of The Day
QR
Quilt Related
QST
Quarter Square Triangle
RR
Round Robin
RUF
Really Ugly Fabric
RQQ
Rag Queen Quilters
SABLE
Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy
SAL
Sew A Long
SAQM
Small Arm Quilting Machine
SAS
Steam A Seam
Selvedge Edge
edge of the fabric where the name is usually printed
SEX
Stash Enhancing eXperience (or eXcursion)
SID
Stitch In (the) Ditch
Siggies
Squares or blocks with signatures of other quilters
SIY
Sew It Yourself
SnW
Stack ‘n Whack
Stash Buster
Any project to use up your scraps
SUI
Sewing Under (the) Influence (hopefully with friends)
SWAN
Swap Without A Name
TBQ
To Be Quilted
TGIF
Thank Goodness It’s Finished!
TOAD
Trashed Object Abandoned In Disgust
TOT
Tone-on-Tone
UFO
UnFinshed Object
USO
UnStarted Object
VIP
Very Important Project
WOA
Work Of Art
WHIMM
Works Hidden In My Mind
WIP
Work In Progress
WISP
Work In Slow Progress
WIWMI 
Wish It Would Make Itself
WOF
Width of Fabric
WOMBAT
Waste of Money, Batting, and Time
WOW
White On White
WST
Wrong Sides Together
WWIT
What Was I Thinking??
YoYo
a circle of fabric, gathered and sewn into a puffy circle; also one who makes them

And if you are wondering what the picture is on this post, it would happen to be No. 7 - Nina's Choice that I am HMQ! I want a LAQM or at least a HQM with a large space under the arm! WWIT!! Oh, I am so craving some gooood SEX! Anyone else? ;-)

Happy patching!
Karen