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Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Mom's Holiday Wreath Ornament

This was a kit and I it found bagged in a small aluminum foil pan up in my mother's kitchen cabinet above the refrigerator. There was another foam wreath in the kit. FYI: I love ornament kits and have tons stored away that I purchased over the years.

I decided to take the kit for myself. I thought I could repair the one pictured; but, the damage was too severe. I ended up cannibalizing the old one to make a brand new one with the extra foam wreath. (There was not enough supplies to finish a new wreath.)

The maker of the kit is LeeWards which is no longer in business and, after many stores closed, it became Michaels. The kit was dated 1976. I also found a sticker price of $1.89. Wow. I was eleven or twelve years old when this kit was packaged together for sale.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

The Troubles of a Gypsy Wife

I was following a quilt along which got me excited and helped me out enormously in the beginning of making this quilt. It was the quilt along got me started on my dream of making one of these quilts. However, the host's husband suffered a horrible fall and she had to quit to focus on helping him recover. I do not blame her. Real life is a heck of a lot more important. By the way, her husband is now doing well.

After dealing with real life myself, I plodded along with the sporadic help of the co-host of the quilt along and via lots of research. I am telling you that this booklet is giving me grief and trouble. Here, let me show you some examples.

This is the latest block I am working on and it is in Section 3 (out of 10 total). The instructions are okay. But, take a look at the image on the right (above). Something is off. Do you see it? Here, let me highlight the problem (in pink).

Speaking of the Colour Wheel block, here is a partial assembly portion of section 3 in the back of the booklet.

The mistake drove me batty! Here is what I have done to "fix" it for me:

I penciled in the correction to the block and felt tons better.

On a related subject, I was cataloging all the blocks and strips I needed for each section so that I can more or less just follow my own steps to which blocks I should make or strips I should cut next since the booklet is in such a haphazard format for doing things. Below is the assembly diagram for Section 5:

The diagram drove me batty. There is a mistake. For the life of me, I could not figure out the mistake. I could not get the strips to line up with the documentation I was creating along with the images in the booklet and the quilt pictured on the cover. I ended up with a terrible headache before giving up.

I showed Dan my spreadsheet, the picture and the above diagram. He figured out the mistake after approximately 15 minutes and gained a headache for his efforts. Dan is my hero!

Here is the corrected diagram:

A strip was missing! Thank goodness I decided to do what I was doing before I got to actually assembling this section. FYI, these diagrams are the only instructions for assembling the sections of the quilt. There are brief explanations of symbols and whatnot in the beginning of the booklet; but, that is pretty much it for instructions.

Now, before I close, I need to mention a block, Old Maid's Puzzle, that almost turned me into a quitter. The full instructions is on one page.

Here is a closeup image of the cutting instuctions:

Ugh!

You have TWO background fabrics. Which is which in the cutting instructions? You also have multiple colored fabrics. It was not that simple considering this block is composed of two different blocks (times two each). I eventually figured it out. Lord have mercy upon me because I have to make another one of these blocks when I get to section 9!

By the way, I showed the above instructions to my sister-in-law who was visiting me at the time I was making this block. She also loves to sew. Needless to say, she was dumbfounded.

So anyway, this is why it is taking me eons to make this quilt. I have to be in top form/shape mentally to deal with issues that may crop up while making the blocks and whatnot. I am only on section 3. No telling what other problems and / or issues will show up down the road.

I used to consider myself an intermediate hobby quilter. However, this booklet made me feel like a beginner. I think I will be an expert quilter by the time I finish making this quilt. And, I think I will have a burning party when I finally finish this quilt. I will happily set the booklet on fire because I would not wish this nightmare on anyone else! Ha!