Needles and a Pen » Knitting, Sewing, and Nursing School

Masthead header
Needles and a Pen bio picture
  • Welcome to my blog!

    Hi! I'm Traci. I'm a Registered Nurse who loves quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and the great outdoors. In my pre-scrubs life, I owned Real Photography, and you can still see my old wedding and portrait photography site here .

    I've created a map that shows links to our camping/hiking/general family fun review posts that you can find here. It's pretty much the coolest thing on this site. Thanks, Google!

    I great big puffy heart *love* comments, so please let me know you visited! I try to always reply!

diamonds progress

My diamond quilt is progressing, even if I failed miserably to finish even ONE piece of clothing in the alloted 7 hours for kid’s clothing week and feel like a sewing loser this week.  My sister-in-law and brother-in-law came to visit this weekend (hi Erik!), and I kept my diamonds on hand for sewing while driving to our hike, while waiting for my turn at Settlers of Catan, and while watching Tangled.  At first Heather was pretty sure I would never finish this quilt, but I got through so much sewing this weekend that now she’s convinced I can whip it out in about a week.  My estimate is that the quilt top will be done in a year and the whole thing done in two.  (You can’t machine quilt a hand pieced top!)

I am having a ton of fun with it, and love that it’s the sort of project that you can work on while hanging out with family members, watching the kids take a bath, or losing at board games.  (It hurts less to get spanked three times in a row if you have a new star to show for your efforts!)  It’s incredibly addictive and today is actually the first day where I haven’t cut diamonds, basted diamonds, or sewn diamonds.  (Instead I made 2 3/4 skirts!)

Notes for other EPP quilt-along-ers:

1)  I’ve cut a TON of diamonds–I think I have more printed diamonds than I’ll even use at this point.  I do them en masse–cutting a bunch of 2″ strips, lay them on top of each other, and then slicing 8-12 diamonds at a time.  Since the actual cut doesn’t matter too much (you’re basing your sewing off the template vs using the cut plus a 1/4″ seam allowance as your sew line) it’s okay for a thick stack to make the cut a little less accurate.

2)  I did a little test of Gutermann vs Mettler 100% cotton thread.  I use long pieces of thread (I’m lazy) and the Gutermann was knotting like no other.  I thought about being less lazy and cutting shorter pieces, but then I remembered how my sewing machine guys feel about Gutermann (that it sucks) and thought I’d try Mettler.  There was a huge difference–Mettler knots a tiny fraction of the amount that Gutermann does.  It did break on me twice as I pulled it through a particularly dense section of seam allowances (I’d never had the Gutermann break without a knot as the cause), but I’m very impressed by the lack of knotting.  I just got some Thread Heaven to try and see if that helps, too.

3)  I tried out some Kimball’s needles (wanting to use sharps instead of the Roxanne Betweens I’ve had on hand since high school) and I was shocked at the quality difference.  I’d forgotten in my decade’s break from quilting how very much better Roxanne needles are.  I’ve gone back to using my Betweens!

Erik Henne - It is true, she did get spanked three times in a row at Settlers of Catan. I have nothing to show for it. She has a chunk of quilt. (Which, ironically, looks like a Settlers of Catan board. Coincidence?).

Julia - Just beautiful! I love your take on this traditional pattern.

summerfete - really sweet!

Jan - What size needle of the betweens are you using? I looked at the site and there are several sizes and brands.

I have been sewing my EPP hexagons and my needles are so dull that they are having a problem getting through the layers when I am attaching the hexagons together.

Your quilt looks great! I want to start with the diamonds when I finish my FMF hexagon. It’s 80% done! I can’t wait!

nicke - i love it. it is coming together so beautifully. i wish it was mine!

Audrey - Now I am going to have to order needles. I have been using cheapo ones from Joanne’s, and I really want to see how different nice ones are!

Neicee - Wow I need to catch up! Your quilt is coming along beautifully! Your colors are just perfect! I figured it would take me a year to finish and I wondered how I would quilt it…I thought no way could it be machine quilted then I saw this on flicker.. I think it was tastefully done. SO now Im on the fence I have a year to think about it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/missblackpepper/3085087330/

Quilt link on flicker above

Fran - I love Erik’s comment!
And this is gorgeous.

Fran - I love Erik’s comment.
And this is gorgeous!

Robin(RsIslandCrafts) - Your diamonds are looking great. I like how you chose to make your stars white. It makes the colored diamonds look like floating cubes. Great job!

Judy - I really love how it’s like a bunch of shapes in one – you have the white stars, the overall hexagon the stars and the patterned pieces make, and then if you look at only the patterned pieces, you see 3D cubes of color. 😀

(I have never won a game of Catan except when I taught my brother over Christmas. Carcasonne, though…)

Laura - I have plans of starting one of these, but first I need to get some of the templates. I think I am just going to go become a follower now. I would love it if you would stop by my blog and say hi sometime.

Susie at ProsperityStuff - Wow! I love this! I’ve been inspired by the pictures at Jessica’s LifeUnderQuilts blog, too … and I’ve been working on a diamond English Paper Piecing project, ironically, out of 1930s vintage and reproduction fabric. Even my kids noticed how much yours looks like mine! I love the colors, the simplicity, the variety!

Michelle - I have been a quilter for many years, but have never hand priced a quilt top and really want to try to. I need some help! Can you send me a template and instructions! I will be happy to pay you for your help! Sincerely fellow quilter! Michelle

Melody - What size are your diamonds?

Traci - They are about 2″ from longest tip to longest tip.

growth-spurting

Ellie literally just finished her breakfast of half of a PBJ sandwich and a whole banana and I found her in the pantry eating raw oatmeal from the carton.  She has been an eating pooping MACHINE this week.

Snow.  On May 11th.  This is why I’m no longer bothering with a garden.

It’s okay, Mommy. It’s really hard to make beautiful things. You just have to go slowly.

Will, running to comfort me yesterday after I accidentally sliced through the dress I’d spent many hours on for Ellie and let loose a string of curses.

Can I get you a glass of water or something?

Will, every morning in the middle of my workout.  He is so sweet.  Or genuinely concerned that I’m going to have a heart attack.

it’s a hoot charm pack quilt

It’s done, and it’s super fun.  I really do love simple patchwork–sitting underneath it or on it, it always looks so nice and quilt-ish!

This will be heavily used for shoots, so Ellie volunteered to test it out.

And then it dissolved into a tickle fest of giggles.

Fran - Gorgeous! Perfect for shoots–and the Ellie shots are fabulous!

Susanne - aw!!! Ellie looks SO pretty in that first pic! Great quilt too 😉

Elizabeth - It’s gorgeous!! And the quilting is amazing as well.

I love patchwork too though I have yet to make one. Someday..

Lindsay - So lovely! How many charm packs did this take?

nicke - i love this quilt. it is so simple and bright and lovely! i LOVE the quilting also. did you do it yourself? it is really stunning. i have been really drawn to bright bold quilt like this lately. i think the “its a hoot” is on my list of must have’s now!

Natalie - I love this quilt! The quilting is a great design, and I also love how you pieced the back. So bright and cheerful!

Deborah - This is so pretty! I love the birds fabric on the back as well.

Audrey - This is so beautiful! It is so bright and cheerful, and I love the simplicity of the patchwork. It works great with this line. You are making me want to dig out my YARDAGE of this line, and cut it up!

Audrey - This is so beautiful! It is so bright and cheerful, and I love the simplicity of the patchwork. It works great with this line. You are making me want to dig out my YARDAGE of this line, and cut it up!
(If anyone else reads this, please don’t think I’m a snob. Traci doesn’t believe I have yardage of anything-just scraps.:))

Susie - I love it- turned out fantastically, Traci!