Behind the Seams - ugliest fabric

Welcome back to Behind the Seams!

First off, thanks to everyone that linked up this past month about a mistake that you've made.  While I hate making mistakes, it's also interesting to see how many different types of mistakes were made.  If you haven't checked them out, please do!

This month's topic comes from Corina...what is your ugliest fabric?

I had to think about this one a bit.  I usually buy fabric for a specific quilt and don't have any from a long time ago that shows how my tastes have changed.  But as I was looking through my fabric I found a good one.

Sheep with baby bottles.  I don't like those sheep at all.  I think they seem a little...tacky.  I got the cloth because there are also sheep without baby bottles and ducks and frogs.  I fussy-cut out the parts that I like for an I-spy quilt, but since I don't get rid of scraps I still have sheep with baby bottles.

So, what is your ugliest fabric?  Have you used it?  Where did you get it?

Here are the linky party rules:
1) The linky part will be open for a year.  I'd like to encourage you to post within the first month, as I'll be reminding people to go back and look at the posts, but it isn't required.
2) I'll be announcing the topic and opening the party on the 15th of each month.
3) Feel free to link posts that you've written in the past.
4) Please link back to this blog.

Behind the seams: a mistake

This month's Behind the Seams features a mistake.

My mistake is recent and has to do with the green coasters I was making. 

I put them together, only to realize that there is a huge lump in the middle.  I then used two pieces of batting and cut a hole in the middle of each one.  The first one looks nice.

But if you put a flat bottomed drink on the coaster, it has a significant tilt...way to much to be useful as general purpose coasters.  They'll work for mugs, at least.

Sigh.  I still want to finish them, but am not feeling very motivated about it.  Since this is a recent WIP, I'll also be joining WIP Wednesday.

So, what's your mistake?  Were you able to salvage the work?  Does it now give it character or is it obvious that it is a mistake?  This linky party is ideally supposed to be a subject that you can post about if you need some interesting post material.  (Or if you just find the subject interesting.)  I found that I just wasn't making enough progress on my quilts to justify another progress post and wanted something different to post about sometimes.  Here's how it works:

1) The linky part will be open for a year.  I'd like to encourage you to post within the first month, as I'll be reminding people to go back and look at the posts, but it isn't required.
2) I'll be announcing the topic and opening the party on the 15th of each month.
3) Feel free to link posts that you've written in the past.

Thanks for joining me!

Behind the Seams: ironing board

Welcome to the second Behind the Seams!  This time we're talking about our ironing boards.

I'll admit - mine is one of the ugly ones. I cut right through the fabric in one spot.  (It turns out that rotary blades are sharp!)  There are water stains all over it. 

It is also the small size ironing board, with a length of about 2.5 feet.  While this can be annoying when I'm dealing with large pieces of fabric, it is also about the right size for me to put on my lap.  So not only is it an ironing board, but it is also my portable work station.  (You can see it in action here.)  Maybe I should clean off my desk so that I can use the desk instead, but I've found that when I put my ironing board on my lap it is a really nice height for cutting and pinning.  And it is easier to watch Netflix at the same time. :)

This linky party is ideally supposed to be a subject that you can post about if you need some interesting post material.  (Or if you just find the subject interesting.)  With that in mind, I'm making a few changes.

1) The linky part will be open for a year.  I'd like to encourage you to post within the first month, as I'll be reminding people to go back and look at the posts, but it isn't required.

2) I'll be announcing the topic and opening the party on the 15th of each month.  (I'll open the next one up tomorrow.)  This way you can write the post and link immediately.

3) Feel free to link posts that you've written in the past.

Thanks for joining me!

Behind the Seams - oldest fabric

Welcome to the very first  Behind the Seams!  (See the bottom of the post for more information on how this works.)

 

This month the linky party is a post about your oldest fabric.  Some details you may want to include are where you got it, what you've used it in (or why it is still sitting on the shelf), whether or not you even like it, etc.

Here are my two oldest fabrics.  I picked them up in a thrift store because I needed something to cover the cake table at my wedding. 

 

One of them is a dark purple...burlap?  I'm not very good with fabric types.  It is a very pretty color, but the weight and texture don't lend themselves well to matching any of my other fabrics.  The other one (no close up) is a grey-purple.  It is also not cotton and looks like it might have been used for clothing in the 80s.

But in the end I went to the local fabric store and got a light purple cloth to cover the table.  I like this color a lot, but I haven't found a place to use it.  (Except for that one little corner that I cut out...and I have no idea what I used that piece for.) 

 (Here it is in action.)

So...I guess that was more than just one piece of fabric, but they were all acquired around the same time and long before anything else that I have.


Next month we're featuring our ironing boards.  Such a boring piece of equipment, but still very important.  Besides a picture of your trusty ironing board, some things you may want to talk about are what it looks like, where you store it, if you've recovered it, and what you like and don't like about it.

edit: This was the first linky party and after the fact I'm changing how it is going to work.  The changes will be implemented Aug 15.

How this linky party works...post about the topic of the month whenever you need an additional blog post.  I often find that I just work on the same thing for a long time and while I post a lot of progress pictures, there's only so much to say sometimes.  This topic is so that you can have sometime to post about that has nothing to do with what you're making.  Add a link to my blog in your post and link up!  I will be keeping the parties open for a year, but would recommend that you join within the first month.  Also, if you have posted about the topic in the past you are still welcome to link up...it doesn't need to be a new post.  (Special note for July 15-Aug 15: feel free to post your ironing board post and then join the link up that will be posted August 15).

Thanks for joining me!  Please make sure to visit some other people that are partying along with us too!

Heart Progress, Behind the Seams

Today I'm linking up with Sarah's Whoop-whoop party!

Slow going on the hearts.  I was all excited two nights ago because I got the two hard pieces put together, but then last night it took me forever to figure out how to actually get those pieces together.  And the baby needed extra attention.  I managed to get the middle block together this morning, so I only have square pieces to put together now...hopefully that will be easy!

And here's the info on my linky party!

 

The introduction: I often feel like I don't really have much progress to show on projects.  Sure, I'm making progress, but sometimes it takes me two solid weeks to quilt a small quilt.  And I'd like something interesting to post about in the meantime.  So we'll be covering topics that are related to sewing/quilting but don't relate to how much progress you're making.

The mechanics: On the 15th of each month I'll post the topic for the next month's party.  Sometime during the month you can write a blog post about the topic...whenever works for you.  (Please include the link to this post or use the button on the side bar.)  Then link up on the 15th of the following month!

Next month's party: The oldest fabric in your fabric stash.  (Or at least the one that you think is the oldest.)  Some things to include might be a picture of the fabric, how you got it, what you think of it (do you like it?), how old you think it is, etc.

Future topics: Here are more that I'm considering.  If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them!

*The location you normally take your quilt pictures - zoomed out and/or without the quilt.

*Critters on a quilt - and who can get the most on at once?

*5 minute clean up - pictures before and after

*Various elements of your sewing area - fabric, ironing board, trash can, thread storage

Locked Hearts and Linky announcement

This week I started work on my heart quilt.

I also continued to make many mistakes. This white piece can at least be used in another block.  I now know that non-square blocks have an orientation.

And this mistake.  It needs to be paper pieced because it's on an awkward angle, and I didn't realize that you get a mirror image of the block when you're done.  So I've managed to learn two things to not do this week.  That counts as progress, right?  Please?

I'm also thinking about starting a linky party called "Behind the Seams."  It would be a sewing/quilting related topic, but wouldn't really have anything to do with the progress your making.  Things like what your sewing area looks like, your oldest piece of fabric, one of your quilts with an animal on it, etc.  So that when we are still working on the same thing there is still something to post about.  I like to post but am so slow that I don't want my readers to get completely bored seeing the same thing a million times.  I'll give you the topic the month prior and then you'll have a month and you can post at any time.  Then we'll link up!  I'm going to post on the 15th of the month, so the first topic will be coming up this Friday.  Sound like fun?

Speaking of linky parties, I'm joining up with Quilting by the River and WIP Wednesday.