Cop Car's Beat

The Kiln Room

For four or five months, now, I've been putting the shuck on Buffy for having dragooned me into quilting.  I've been outed.  In a comment to Buffy's posting on Red Hat Ladies Travel, I blithely made reference to the kiln room in our basement.  Ever alert, Buffy picked up the reference and ran with it, asking that I clarify what we do with a kiln. This little yarn will not only answer her question, but reassure her that leading me astray isn't as hard as I had tried to make her think it was (but it was all the better to make you feel guilty, my pretty!)

Back in late 1998-early 1999, while Hunky Husband and I were in the last throws of designing our current home, my Elegant Friend (who had recently been widowed), made an eminently sensible suggestion.  She and I had been/were taking classes in pottery and in cutting glass to form mosaics embedded into concrete stepping stones and bench tops.  She suggested that I incorporate a "hobby room" in our new basement.  The seed was planted in fertile soil and grew.  Since I had planned to have two "activity rooms" in the basement to use as I wished, I chose to make the larger room into a sewing-multi-purpose room.  The smaller room became the "hobby room".

The constraints for the room were the size (10' 8" x 16' 6"), location (north corner--house sits at 45-degree angle to cardinal directions), the fact that it housed the "escape window" for the basement, and that it housed the bottom half of the clothes chute.  The room adjoins the laundry room on the longer wall (across from the escape window) and the bathroom on the shorter wall.  Design juices flowing, I designed about 10 linear feet worth of built-in cabinets along the laundry room wall and put a pocket door next to the cabinets, leading to the laundry room.  (A large, deep, stainless steel sink is just inside the laundry room from the pocket door, making cleanup after potting a snap.)  On the shorter interior wall, a swinging door provides access to the main hallway and the bathroom. 

Cabinetry houses the laundry chute and a small cabinet for art glass and glass supplies, beneath the chute.  All of the cabinetry is oak, and it looks quite nice.  Originally, the electrician started to install the electric power distribution panel behind the swinging door; but, I asked that it be installed on the exterior wall, between the escape window and the bathroom wall (these panels are framed and behind oak doors, too.)  The kiln sits in that corner, providing a short run for the heavy electrical lines required to power it, and is vented to the outside using steel piping.

EF and I have a Skutt Automatic kiln (KS-1027, with 7-cubic-foot capacity and powered exhaust), a small electric potter's wheel, and an electric grinding wheel--for the glass work.  We have cheap, open, metal shelves (moved over from our previous basement) for the greenware, glazed ware, and pottery supplies.  There are, of course, 10 linear feet of work space with plastic laminate on the long cabinetry.  Glass cutting supplies hang on magnetic bars between the two upper cabinets (think of a cabinet built around a sink with a window above it--but without the sink and window).  After EF and I had used the room for several months or a year, I had the tile man come back to install tile beneath and at the sides (up about 30") of the escape window.  (The potter's wheel sits "under" the window and it was difficult cleaning the slip off of the wall!)

For the first year after moving into this house, EF and I did quite a bit of pottery and glass work.  Far from being expert at either one, we had great fun on one evening each week (I was still working!)  Then, we started getting busy at other things.  The last time we threw anything on the wheel was in early 2001, and we cut glass not much later.  This spring, I glaze-fired some of the pieces that had been setting about since then.  We still need to pour concrete to make a gutter downspout for which EF made a beautiful snake those few years ago.  Perhaps, this fall, we'll get back into the groove of learning to pot and learning more on the glass work.  We haven't given up, but we've taken one heck of a long breather!

June 30, 2005 at 11:10 AM in Current Activities, Family History, Yarns from the Past | Permalink

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Comments

Pottery too, on top of all the other things you do. Makes me feel like a real under-achiever. I hope you have to opportunity to do some more pot throwing. It would be a pity not to use that wonderful space and equipment.

I wish we had room here for some sort of hobby room. Not for a kiln but because I have a knitting machine that I have no room to put up. Before I married I had room for it but since you-know-who came on the scene... Perhaps I should take over one of the Stepkids old rooms. Mind you, somehow although they have both left home (one in a rented home with friends, the other at university) they both seem to think of here as their base and to turn up demanding a bed occasionally. As a Stepmum I have to be careful not to be acting like a Cuckoo.

Posted by: Adele | June 30, 2005 at 03:52 PM

Come on over. We can share!

Posted by: Cop Car | June 30, 2005 at 05:30 PM

HA!!! You made me feel that I was the bad guy....luring you into the wonderful world of quilting, when EF and you have NO CONTROL! Soon you'll be reviving MACRAME! I can see the two of you opening a craft school one day! lol

Smart move, tiling that wall behind the kiln.

Our kiln was left behind when Elegante Mother returned to Illinois, so I no longer have that temptation.

Go throw a pot. Play with glaze. Enjoy the kiln, but remember....you're into quilting now, and your time for other things is limited! Muuuahahaha

Posted by: Buffy | July 03, 2005 at 12:44 PM

Cruel driver that you are, Buffy!!
I failed to say that I also had the tiling above/about the sink in the laundry room extended up to the bottom of the upper cabinets. Not thinking about cleanup from potting, I had originally had a single course of tile laid above the sink. Splish, splash!

Posted by: Cop Car | July 04, 2005 at 09:25 AM

For four or five months, now, I've been putting the shuck on Buffy for having dragooned me into quilting.  I've been outed.  In a comment to Buffy's posting on Red Hat Ladies Travel, I blithely made reference to the kiln room in our basement.  Ever alert, Buffy picked up the reference and ran with it, asking that I clarify what we do with a kiln. This little yarn will not only answer her question, but reassure her that leading me astray isn't as hard as I had tried to make her think it was (but it was all the better to make you feel guilty, my pretty!)

Back in late 1998-early 1999, while Hunky Husband and I were in the last throws of designing our current home, my Elegant Friend (who had recently been widowed), made an eminently sensible suggestion.  She and I had been/were taking classes in pottery and in cutting glass to form mosaics embedded into concrete stepping stones and bench tops.  She suggested that I incorporate a "hobby room" in our new basement.  The seed was planted in fertile soil and grew.  Since I had planned to have two "activity rooms" in the basement to use as I wished, I chose to make the larger room into a sewing-multi-purpose room.  The smaller room became the "hobby room".

The constraints for the room were the size (10' 8" x 16' 6"), location (north corner--house sits at 45-degree angle to cardinal directions), the fact that it housed the "escape window" for the basement, and that it housed the bottom half of the clothes chute.  The room adjoins the laundry room on the longer wall (across from the escape window) and the bathroom on the shorter wall.  Design juices flowing, I designed about 10 linear feet worth of built-in cabinets along the laundry room wall and put a pocket door next to the cabinets, leading to the laundry room.  (A large, deep, stainless steel sink is just inside the laundry room from the pocket door, making cleanup after potting a snap.)  On the shorter interior wall, a swinging door provides access to the main hallway and the bathroom. 

Cabinetry houses the laundry chute and a small cabinet for art glass and glass supplies, beneath the chute.  All of the cabinetry is oak, and it looks quite nice.  Originally, the electrician started to install the electric power distribution panel behind the swinging door; but, I asked that it be installed on the exterior wall, between the escape window and the bathroom wall (these panels are framed and behind oak doors, too.)  The kiln sits in that corner, providing a short run for the heavy electrical lines required to power it, and is vented to the outside using steel piping.

EF and I have a Skutt Automatic kiln (KS-1027, with 7-cubic-foot capacity and powered exhaust), a small electric potter's wheel, and an electric grinding wheel--for the glass work.  We have cheap, open, metal shelves (moved over from our previous basement) for the greenware, glazed ware, and pottery supplies.  There are, of course, 10 linear feet of work space with plastic laminate on the long cabinetry.  Glass cutting supplies hang on magnetic bars between the two upper cabinets (think of a cabinet built around a sink with a window above it--but without the sink and window).  After EF and I had used the room for several months or a year, I had the tile man come back to install tile beneath and at the sides (up about 30") of the escape window.  (The potter's wheel sits "under" the window and it was difficult cleaning the slip off of the wall!)

For the first year after moving into this house, EF and I did quite a bit of pottery and glass work.  Far from being expert at either one, we had great fun on one evening each week (I was still working!)  Then, we started getting busy at other things.  The last time we threw anything on the wheel was in early 2001, and we cut glass not much later.  This spring, I glaze-fired some of the pieces that had been setting about since then.  We still need to pour concrete to make a gutter downspout for which EF made a beautiful snake those few years ago.  Perhaps, this fall, we'll get back into the groove of learning to pot and learning more on the glass work.  We haven't given up, but we've taken one heck of a long breather!

Influenza Reprised

I direct your attention to a Flu Wiki, as pointed out by Fred First in The Flu Wiki is Up.   Additionally, Fred has posted Tuesday Flu Focus and H5N1:  This is a Test. The comments on H5N1 are rather extensive, but are well worth the time for their reading.

[Those who missed it the first time around may wish to visit my Book Report blog to read a review of The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry.]

June 28, 2005 at 02:59 PM

Comments

Frightening isn't it. The papers over here keep on publishing articles saying that it is a question of when the next flu pandemic appears, not if it appears.

Posted by: Adele | June 30, 2005 at 03:55 PM

Oh, absolutely, Adele!

Posted by: Cop Car | June 30, 2005 at 05:29 PM

A semi-related happening that really bothers me is the way the religious leaders in Africa have prevailed upon the populace to not have their babies immunized against polio. (According to them, the immunizations are a plot against Islam!) Polio could have been history by now if the mothers had accepted the immunization of their babies. As it is, polio may make resurgence into the world outside Africa. Bah! Humbug! To think that we could have, now, been re-directing the human and monetary resources from polio to AIDS or cholera or....

Posted by: Cop Car | July 04, 2005 at 09:33 AM

I direct your attention to a Flu Wiki, as pointed out by Fred First in The Flu Wiki is Up.   Additionally, Fred has posted Tuesday Flu Focus and H5N1:  This is a Test. The comments on H5N1 are rather extensive, but are well worth the time for their reading.

[Those who missed it the first time around may wish to visit my Book Report blog to read a review of The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry.]

Beginner Piece

This afternoon, I finished the homework assignment that was to be completed before our next Beginner Quilting class--on Thursday.  The 9-patches are all put together and pressed, now.  After laying the 9-patch blocks out with the setting blocks, I've decided that the Beginner Piece will be more pleasing to the eye than is the Trial Piece.  Buffy has tried to educate me on a visual quality called value.  On the Fussy Cut web site, appears the following definition of value--which agrees with what Buffy has taught me.

Value
The relative lightness or darkness of fabric without regard to color. This is what would be seen in a black and white photograph or if a photocopy is made.

The value of the fabric used for the setting blocks in the Beginner Piece is near the value of the small floral print that is used in the 9-patch.  I thought that the same was true for the setting blocks in the Trial Piece.  Alas, it was not so.  In looking at the fabrics through a piece of red plastic, I now see that the value of the setting blocks in the Trial Piece is very near that of the green in the 9-patches. (I really thought that I had checked this, before; but, if I did, I didn't do it well!)  Not a good thing, for the effect that I wished to achieve.  If you click on the thumbnail image of the Beginner Piece, you may better view the beautiful butterfly print that is the large-scaled print in the quilt.  It's not to scale, but the image isn't a bad representation of the fabric, itself.

BTW:  I plan to give my class project to one of the women in the nursing home to use as a lap quilt.

(Update 6/30/2005)

Here are swatches of the fabrics which may better show their patterns.

June 27, 2005 at 10:04 PM

Comments

Nice, Cop Car. In the larger view, it looks like the center is floating over a "meadow" of the butterfly print. Lovely.

Posted by: Ronni Bennett | June 28, 2005 at 05:35 AM

Thank you, Ronni. The butterfly fabric has a story. I found a swatch of the butterfly fabric on a web site. It was shown in yellow, but the site said that it came in purple and in green. I immediately visited my local quilt shop to see if they had the purple print. They had already sold out of the print in any color. Back to the web.

I called the people whose web site had said that the print came in purple. They did, indeed, have the purple on hand--2 1/2 yards of it. Please send it to me. A couple of days later, I found a site that listed the purple print, so I ordered 2 yards from them.

When the 2 1/2-yard piece arrived a few days later, I was disappointed. I expected purple. It did have purplish-tinged blotches in the background, so I put the fabric away, wondering what I would do with 4 1/2 yards of a fabric that wasn't all that spectacular. Then the 2-yard piece arrived. It is a different color. I still wouldn't call it purple, but it's certainly more purple than the first fabric that arrived. So, now I had 2 1/2 yards of "pink" fabric and 2 yards of "blue" fabric.

When I signed up for the Beginning Quilting class, the shop had the small floral print that coordinated with the "pink" butterfly print; so, I decided to use those in my project. Now, I'm happy with the colors--not purple, but very acceptable. We never know.

Posted by: Cop Car | June 28, 2005 at 08:47 AM

WOW! You are an incredible student. I KNEW I wasn't explaining the concept of "value" well, and I'm delighted that you ran with it and found a clear definition. And, I caught that you have learned to use the red film to help determine value. Two other ways are to squint, or to use binoculars reversed. The red film is the best.

You know, every quilter I know has a story similar to yours, about how a top grew out of the purchase of a certain piece of fabric. You've learned not to trust someone else's color opinion, and not to buy fabric sight unseen. But, you've also stretched your design capabilities with this project, and learned about value. I'd say this project is a winner, and the recipient will LOVE it, and you.

Posted by: buffy | July 03, 2005 at 12:55 PM

Buffy--On the contrary, I think that you did an outstanding job of explaining "value" to me, the first time (remember my considering having HH take photographs and my printing them out on my black & white printer?) I just must have blinked or failed, entirely, to evaluate the value of the pink fabric in the Trial Piece. I did note in reading Candace Eisner Strick's "The Quilter's Quick Reference Guide" that, "You can also find green value finders that are good for viewing warm colors--red, orange, yellow, and violet. Use the red one for cool colors--blues and greens." Perhaps the explanation is that I was using the red viewer on both warm and cool colors (pink and green).

More than once, in discussions with my quilting instructor, she has remarked how lucky I am to have you as a mentor. She thinks that you've done/are doing a great job! (BTW: the instructor is young--even younger than Bogie!)

Posted by: Cop Car | July 04, 2005 at 09:01 AM

This afternoon, I finished the homework assignment that was to be completed before our next Beginner Quilting class--on Thursday.  The 9-patches are all put together and pressed, now.  After laying the 9-patch blocks out with the setting blocks, I've decided that the Beginner Piece will be more pleasing to the eye than is the Trial Piece.  Buffy has tried to educate me on a visual quality called value.  On the Fussy Cut web site, appears the following definition of value--which agrees with what Buffy has taught me.

Value
The relative lightness or darkness of fabric without regard to color. This is what would be seen in a black and white photograph or if a photocopy is made.

The value of the fabric used for the setting blocks in the Beginner Piece is near the value of the small floral print that is used in the 9-patch.  I thought that the same was true for the setting blocks in the Trial Piece.  Alas, it was not so.  In looking at the fabrics through a piece of red plastic, I now see that the value of the setting blocks in the Trial Piece is very near that of the green in the 9-patches. (I really thought that I had checked this, before; but, if I did, I didn't do it well!)  Not a good thing, for the effect that I wished to achieve.  If you click on the thumbnail image of the Beginner Piece, you may better view the beautiful butterfly print that is the large-scaled print in the quilt.  It's not to scale, but the image isn't a bad representation of the fabric, itself.

BTW:  I plan to give my class project to one of the women in the nursing home to use as a lap quilt.

(Update 6/30/2005)

Here are swatches of the fabrics which may better show their patterns.

Trial Piece

In order to help me know what I need to learn in the Beginning Quilting class, I've been working on a trial piece.  The quilt is the same pattern as the class project except for size and fabrics.  Instead of cutting the smallest squares to produce 3" x 3" finished-size pieces, I've cut the trial piece smallest squares to produce 2" x 2" finished-size pieces.  It has worked out well--meaning that the trial piece has probably kept me from making so many mistakes on the class project. 

Last evening, I finished making the trial piece 9-patches, and I completed putting together the center of the quilt before going to the fitness center, this morning.  I must admit to being a bit disappointed in the trial piece--not because my seams weren't accurate (although they weren't), not because my corners don't meet (some of them don't, quite), but because my large-scale print fabric just doesn't "sing" with the 9-patch fabrics.  It looks so good (to me) in the EQ5 representation; but, alas, it just isn't the same.  I plan to complete the project, as planned.  It will be a good reminder to me as I progress in quilting--the finished size of this quilt won't be large enough to serve a useful purpose, anyway. 

(Update 6/30/2005)

Here are swatches of the fabrics which may better show their patterns.  Unfortunately, as you'll note by comparison with Project 0u, I had to "fake" the small floral.  I've not been able to find a swatch of the real fabric and have yet to purchase a scanner. 

June 27, 2005 at 12:12 PM

Comments

I keep seeing all these lovely quilts, and I think to myself, "Self, you should hie thee to a class", and of course, I don't and now I just lament I have not time.

I did attempt once upon a long long time ago, when I still had knee-biters around. My patience was about as long as the tail of a newborn kitten, and about as frazzled. Maybe I might try it again. I really like the friendship quilts, where you ask family members and friends to make one square and then you sew it all together.

Posted by: Cowtown Pattie | June 27, 2005 at 10:00 PM

Pattie--You are well ahead of me, then! The friendship quilts are great! In 1984, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. A couple of years before that, I came up with the idea of our (in secret) putting together a friendship quilt. The rest of the family agreed. A family vote made the quilt colors (non-metallic) gold & white. My sister-in-law, Expert Seamstress, volunteered to, with the help of her own mother, do the actual quilt construction--although, neither of them had ever made a quilt. They made three "trial" patches with candidate designs which were passed about the family. A modified Ohio Star, set with white sashing and gold intersection blocks (I forget what they are called), won the majority vote.

Having established a pattern that would provide five white squares per block, Expert Seamstress and her mother cut out all of the white squares for a full-size bed quilt, and mailed most of them to me (she lived in Santa Fe NM, her mother in Boulder CO, and I in Panama City FL, at this stage of the project). I wrote a letter to send with the squares and mailed one or more squares out to each of the people/families whose names I had weasled out of Mom as favored invitees--as I recall, between 150 and 200 of them. Each envelope also contained gold embroidery floss for their use, if they wished; but, since most of them were elderly, and many would not know how to embroider, they were invited to return the square with a penciled-in design or signature with the assurance that ES or I would do the embroidery.

By the time we started embroidering squares, I had moved to Albuquerque NM and was working in the Los Angeles CA area. It was nice to have a project that I could work on in my apartment in California.

Expert Seamstress and her mother put the quilt together with a large central block on which my parents's names were listed with the dates of their wedding and their 50th anniversary--with appropriate scrolls and flowers. (Oh--I failed to say that, in addition to the gold and white pieces of the quilt, ES used a tiny gold & tan floral print.) In addition, ES made a matching piece to lay across the pillows. The only concession that ES made to her not being a quilter was that she tied the top to the backing (knotting on the reverse side) rather than quilting it. She feared that quilting would destroy the signature blocks.

Mom & Dad were stunned, when we brought the quilt out at the family dinner we had the night before the big to-do. Mom couldn't believe that we could have kept such a project a secret. In fact, one of the women at her church had asked something about "the quilt"; but, since Mom loved to piece quilts, she just thought that the woman must be talking about a top that she was working on at the time!

The signature squares were quite varied. For my own, I put my first name and then satin-stitched a heart as a symbol of my love for Mom and Dad and a single-engine airplane because airplanes were what I was most-associated with. Our elder daughter (Dudette) drew around her own daughter's (Crazy Kid's) hand (CK was four years old, at the time it was drawn). One distant relative drew a little house and told us the color-scheme to use in embroidering it. ES did an outstanding job. I don't call her "Expert Seamstress" lightly. Her one-and-only quilt was more expertly pieced than I shall ever be able to achieve. Every intersection was "just so". Every seam was perfectly straight. A small museum in our home town now has the quilt. It was ES's request that the quilt be given to them after Mom died (Dad had died five years previously.) Happily and saddly, in the time between our receiving signature squares and the presentation of the quilt, three or four of the people had died. Mom was really happy that their squares were incorporated, but we were all sad that the people weren't there to celebrate with us.

Posted by: Cop Car | June 27, 2005 at 10:41 PM

I love the story of that quilt. I enjoy it every time I hear it. Ya bring a smile to my face when I think of your Mother's surprise!

The little blocks at the intersection of the sashing are sometimes called "set squares" or "setting squares." Their purpose is to help you keep the blocks aligned vertically. If you use one long sashing strip with no set squares, the vertical alignment tends to shift around a bit.

Cowtown Pattie.....If you send me your pattern, I'd be happy to make a friendship block to get your quilt started! So will Cop Car! (GRINS) Seriously, we will!

Posted by: buffy | July 03, 2005 at 01:06 PM

Pattie--Just because she was voted into our family, Buffy thinks she can just volunteer any one of us. *grinning* In this case she is absolutely correct. I would send you a block. Good luck!

Buffy--It's kind of you to be so accepting of the repetition. Now that I've actually blogged about the quilt for our parents's anniversary, perhaps I'll give it a rest and you won't be subjected to more iterations. (Please tell me that the only other times I've told the tale it has been in person, in comments to someone else's blog, and in email. I'd hate to think that I went to the trouble of posting it all in my blog, before!)

Posted by: Cop Car | July 04, 2005 at 08:27 AM

In order to help me know what I need to learn in the Beginning Quilting class, I've been working on a trial piece.  The quilt is the same pattern as the class project except for size and fabrics.  Instead of cutting the smallest squares to produce 3" x 3" finished-size pieces, I've cut the trial piece smallest squares to produce 2" x 2" finished-size pieces.  It has worked out well--meaning that the trial piece has probably kept me from making so many mistakes on the class project. 

Last evening, I finished making the trial piece 9-patches, and I completed putting together the center of the quilt before going to the fitness center, this morning.  I must admit to being a bit disappointed in the trial piece--not because my seams weren't accurate (although they weren't), not because my corners don't meet (some of them don't, quite), but because my large-scale print fabric just doesn't "sing" with the 9-patch fabrics.  It looks so good (to me) in the EQ5 representation; but, alas, it just isn't the same.  I plan to complete the project, as planned.  It will be a good reminder to me as I progress in quilting--the finished size of this quilt won't be large enough to serve a useful purpose, anyway. 

(Update 6/30/2005)

Here are swatches of the fabrics which may better show their patterns.  Unfortunately, as you'll note by comparison with Project 0u, I had to "fake" the small floral.  I've not been able to find a swatch of the real fabric and have yet to purchase a scanner. 

A Nine-Patch, It Is!

Last night was my first "Beginning Quilting" class--and it went well.  Our instructor, Annette, is rather sanguine about everything.  Everything, that is, except seam widths.  Fortunately, when I got my pieces cut out and sewed the first 9-patch together, the seams were really 1/4-inch wide.  Amazing!  That's the first use I've made of the true 1/4-inch foot, and it works beautifully.  I had used the walking foot on my "trial" pieces at home, but when I asked Annette about using it to sew the strips together, she advised that I use the 1/4-inch foot.  Thank goodness!  We're to make four more 9-patches as our homework for the next class.  This won't be difficult since the strips are already sewn together.

June 24, 2005 at 11:46 AM

 

 

Comments

Because I know nothing, what is so special about 1/4 inch seam widths that Annette is not so sanguine about them?

Posted by: bogie | June 25, 2005 at 04:57 AM

Do you know what size to cut a piece of fabric so that it includes the seam allowance or do you have to guess? I am always leary of sewing patterns which do not have seam allowances and so you have to add them. Somehow I always end up with a wobbly line so my sewing line ends up a little odd.

Good luck. I'm glad you are enjoying yourself.

Posted by: Adele | June 25, 2005 at 06:39 AM

Answering the questions in the order asked:

Bogie--The accuracy of sewing a 1/4-inch seam determines how well the blocks fit together. In quilting, it is "standard" to cut pieces with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. The width of the seam isn't critical; but, it must be the same as the allowance that was included in cutting or the pieces won't fit together as planned. In this quilt, each 9-patch block will abut at least one "setting" block--a block that is a single piece of fabric. If I cut the setting block 9.5 x 9.5 (including the .25-inch seam allowance at each of the four edges), the 9-patch block must be 9.5 x 9.5, also, if there are to be no puckers when they are sewn together.

Obviously, if I cut each of the small pieces of the 9-patch unit with a .25-inch allowance, but sew a .2-inch seam, my accumulated error leaves me with a 9-patch that measures [9.5 + 4(.25-.2)] = 9.7 x 9.7--for joining to the 9.5 x 9.5 setting blocks. It gets even hairier if my seams vary in width.

Adele--I think that you can see that I've answered your question--mostly. I'll stick with basic stuff. Buffy could flood us with ways of doing different things.

For square, rectangular, or round pieces, the standard 1/4-inch seam is allowed for each dimension. Making triangles is done in different ways, depending upon what type of triangle is desired. The most commonly used triangles are formed as half-squares (obtained by splitting the square along one diagonal to produce two right-angle, isosceles triangles) or as quarter-squares (obtained by splitting the square along each diagonal to produce four isosceles triangles that are not right-angled). The seam allowance, in either case, may be determined by simple trigonometry and moving to the convenient 1/8-inch increment closest to the actual dimension. The short answer is: yes, we always know what allowance to cut. It just takes a little planning.

Posted by: Cop Car | June 25, 2005 at 11:31 AM

It just takes a little planning - must be why I don't sew (or quilt)!

Posted by: bogie | June 26, 2005 at 05:40 AM

Well, Buffy will beat me when she reads the posting--because--I lied. Each of the triangles that I addressed is a right-angled triangle. It's just that the half-square triangle's hypotenuse is the square's diagonal while the quarter-square triangle's hypotenuse is the square's width. Some mathematician I turn out to be, eh?

Posted by: Cop Car | June 26, 2005 at 11:15 PM

Last night was my first "Beginning Quilting" class--and it went well.  Our instructor, Annette, is rather sanguine about everything.  Everything, that is, except seam widths.  Fortunately, when I got my pieces cut out and sewed the first 9-patch together, the seams were really 1/4-inch wide.  Amazing!  That's the first use I've made of the true 1/4-inch foot, and it works beautifully.  I had used the walking foot on my "trial" pieces at home, but when I asked Annette about using it to sew the strips together, she advised that I use the 1/4-inch foot.  Thank goodness!  We're to make four more 9-patches as our homework for the next class.  This won't be difficult since the strips are already sewn together.

Priorities

Following up on a link that a commenter left on Bod's blog, I found BoingBoing.  It had the following posting by Mark Frauenfelder.

Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech

Here's the speech Steve Jobs delivered to the graduating class at Stanford.

My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:58:39 AM permalink | blogs' comments

June 16, 2005 at 07:50 AM

Comments

Similar advice is that we not live our lives as though they are a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Erma Bombeck, who delighted millions with her humor, wrote that she would have lived her life differently. She would have hugged her children more, and let them sit in the formal living room. She would have lit the candles that she kept for show.

What I need is guidance in how to put balance into my life: how to deal with the chores and obligations so that I have time for those things that make life worth living. It seems that there should be room for it all. Does anyone have a good manual for living the mature adult life??

Posted by: buffy | June 20, 2005 at 10:41 PM

Ms Bombeck didn't advertise the fact, but she was quite the philosopher. She was one neat woman. Would that I were nearly so wise!

Posted by: Cop Car | June 21, 2005 at 10:51 PM

I say help others but also take time for yourself. Plus, I try not to get upset about the little annoyances of life. Blogging has helped me do that. Rather than get upset, I now think to try to make it into a story.

Posted by: Susan | June 27, 2005 at 11:00 AM

Susan--It's always nice to have you drop in. The trials that you've been going through are enough to be worrisome, at times. You are much more patient than I would be with your aide. (That's where the blogging comes in, huh?)

Posted by: Cop Car | June 27, 2005 at 05:54 PM

Following up on a link that a commenter left on Bod's blog, I found BoingBoing.  It had the following posting by Mark Frauenfelder.

Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech

Here's the speech Steve Jobs delivered to the graduating class at Stanford.

My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 11:58:39 AM permalink | blogs' comments

Meme on Missing Things from Childhood

I got tagged by Bogie with a meme to list 5 things I miss from childhood:

1. Seeing all of my now-deceased parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great grandmother, aunts, and uncle
2. The smell of air that wasn't choked by auto exhaust (although in some places it was choked by steam locomotive exhaust)
3. Skies that were dark, really dark, at night so that each of zillions of stars shown down on us (it's hard to get away from light pollution these days)
4. The taste of unadulterated foods:  hand-cranked ice cream, corn-on-the-cob and watermelons that were fresh from the garden or field, cream freshly skimmed from the milk, butter hand-cranked from fresh cream, Grandmother H's flaky biscuits with her incomparable applebutter (although, Bogie's and Dudette's have come close)...
5. The sound that the streetcar made when it turned at the end of the loop in Swope Park (about 2.5 miles from our home in Kansas City MO), the sound of a B-36 winging low over the city with a rumbling noise from the six piston engines that was so low that it was felt from miles away, and the sound of absolute silence when a deep snow fell on the farm.

A list of her links, remove one, and and someone else:

• Connie
• Walls Come Tumbling Down
• Res Ipsa Loquitur
• Bogieblog
• Cop Car's Beat

I'll pass the meme along to:

• Val
• Maria

June 16, 2005 at 07:19 AM

I got tagged by Bogie with a meme to list 5 things I miss from childhood:

1. Seeing all of my now-deceased parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great grandmother, aunts, and uncle
2. The smell of air that wasn't choked by auto exhaust (although in some places it was choked by steam locomotive exhaust)
3. Skies that were dark, really dark, at night so that each of zillions of stars shown down on us (it's hard to get away from light pollution these days)
4. The taste of unadulterated foods:  hand-cranked ice cream, corn-on-the-cob and watermelons that were fresh from the garden or field, cream freshly skimmed from the milk, butter hand-cranked from fresh cream, Grandmother H's flaky biscuits with her incomparable applebutter (although, Bogie's and Dudette's have come close)...
5. The sound that the streetcar made when it turned at the end of the loop in Swope Park (about 2.5 miles from our home in Kansas City MO), the sound of a B-36 winging low over the city with a rumbling noise from the six piston engines that was so low that it was felt from miles away, and the sound of absolute silence when a deep snow fell on the farm.

A list of her links, remove one, and and someone else:

• Connie
• Walls Come Tumbling Down
• Res Ipsa Loquitur
• Bogieblog
• Cop Car's Beat

I'll pass the meme along to:

• Val
• Maria

Nearly Summer

Summer can be brutal in Kansas, but there are many areas of the world that can say that so I feel not alone.  For the last week, we've had a respite from the unrelenting heat that can afflict us at this time of year:  we've been getting rained upon.  It seems that every hour or two or three, Mother Nature moves a spate of rain clouds through and we get anywhere from .1" to 1.5" of rain.  The wheat farmers are, of course, really upset because they were just two or three days from getting into the fields to harvest the wheat.  What wheat is still standing (some areas have had, not only torrential rains, but hail) is in a bog.  Wheat that is wet cannot be harvested.  Equipment cannot be run into a bog.  Wheat that is laying over in the bog isn't high enough to be picked up by the combine.  Not being a wheat farmer, my only concerns are getting the grass cut before I need a reaper and hay baler, keeping up with the weeds (impossible!), and not being able to have the load of sand delivered that I had planned to use while Hunky Husband is out of town.

Family reports:  At least three barn swallows hatched a week ago last Saturday (last year there were two hatchings of five each).  The bluebirds are still around, but if they are setting a second clutch of eggs, it isn't in the bluebird house.  The hassle that the dozen or so house sparrows gave the bluebirds (the sparrows actually built a nest atop the bluebird nest) may have prevented bluebird use of the house--as happened last year.  The house wrens have either fledged their young or have been deluged by one of the heavy rains that we've had.  I don't want to possibly disturb them (in the house that Bogie gave us) to find out, but I've not seen or heard them for a couple of days.

Belatedly, I've been attempting to inventory my fabric stash so that I know how many yards of what fabric is "in stock".  The books had told me to do this, but I was slow to see the advantage.  The only thing that's bugging me, now, is that there are a few fabrics for which I've not been able to find electronic swatches.  I had told Buffy that I was going to make two Beginning Quilting class pieces:  one that doesn't get taken to class, but which I hope to keep ahead of class on, the other the class piece.  The theory is that I will have fewer bloopers if I practice on the quilt that doesn't go to class.  I don't know that I've saved myself from making the same mistake but the first strip of material that I cut (for the major framing pieces since they are long and with the long grain of the fabric) was a mistake.  After cutting the strip ever-so-beautifully, it occurred to me that I had cut it from the wrong fabric.  Overs!  Buffy, are you sure it's a good idea for me to be trying this?  (Stop snickering, Ronni!)

June 13, 2005 at 07:52 AM

Comments

You must have been on a good few shopping expeditions to get all the pieces of fabric you now have. On one of the lists i am on we call such expeditions SEX - short for Stash Expansion Expeditions. Works for me - though when I do it I buy yarn, yarn and yet more yarn.

Posted by: Adele | June 13, 2005 at 04:34 PM

There are several dozen skeins of yarn stuck away in my closets, Adele. Want some? I don't really knit (I've knit three sweater vests to completion and given them away to the local women's crisis center. I finished the knitting on a fourth vest about 18 months ago and just can't see well enough to stitch the front and back together!) About four months ago, I started an elbow-length poncho; but, my right hand hurts so much when I knit that I can only tolerate knitting about half of a round each day. The poncho may not be finished in my lifetime--lol. Do you really make sweaters and such?

Posted by: Cop Car | June 13, 2005 at 09:16 PM

Cop Car

Answering your last question first - Yes, I knit sweaters and have been doing so since I was very young. I learnt to knit and crochet when I was about 6 or 7 and it never occurred to me, or to those around me, that I couldn't make sweaters. I've recently finished a big aran one with lots of cables for the Husband.

I'm sorry to hear that knitting causes you pain. How exactly do you knit? If you are knitting with the yarn in your left hand try knitting with the yarn in your right hand. That's the way I knit and I've never had any pain.

But if you don't want the yarn I would be happy to take it off your hands *grin*

Posted by: Adele | June 14, 2005 at 03:36 AM

I knit with the yarn in my right hand, Adele, and had thought that knitting with the yarn in my left hand might be better. However, I am ill coordinated and don't relish the idea of trying to re-learn. For the last several years, I've used the computer mouse in my left hand to off-load my right. Since it is just clicking one button or the other, or rolling the scroll wheel, I can handle that! My mother taught herself to crochet, never learning to knit, and I taught myself to knit, never learning to crochet!
One must have the patience of Job to knit sweaters--especially Aran patterns. I am in awe of your accomplishments. Do you use wool or acrylic yarns?
My Elder Brother's mother-in-law knit beautiful sweaters; she made dozens of cardigans for her husband and for EB (mostly acrylic, but one or two wools). However, I don't believe she ever did any cable patterns (nor have I attempted it). Also, Hunky Husband's late sister made cable pattern Afghans (acrylic) for him and for their father--that I know of. She was estranged from the family for 9 of the 10 last years of her life. She had just started communicating with the family, again, in the several months before she was killed. We have both of the Afghans, now, and they are treasured. Eventually, Bogie and Dudette will get those treasures!

Posted by: Cop Car | June 14, 2005 at 08:31 AM

Summer can be brutal in Kansas, but there are many areas of the world that can say that so I feel not alone.  For the last week, we've had a respite from the unrelenting heat that can afflict us at this time of year:  we've been getting rained upon.  It seems that every hour or two or three, Mother Nature moves a spate of rain clouds through and we get anywhere from .1" to 1.5" of rain.  The wheat farmers are, of course, really upset because they were just two or three days from getting into the fields to harvest the wheat.  What wheat is still standing (some areas have had, not only torrential rains, but hail) is in a bog.  Wheat that is wet cannot be harvested.  Equipment cannot be run into a bog.  Wheat that is laying over in the bog isn't high enough to be picked up by the combine.  Not being a wheat farmer, my only concerns are getting the grass cut before I need a reaper and hay baler, keeping up with the weeds (impossible!), and not being able to have the load of sand delivered that I had planned to use while Hunky Husband is out of town.

Family reports:  At least three barn swallows hatched a week ago last Saturday (last year there were two hatchings of five each).  The bluebirds are still around, but if they are setting a second clutch of eggs, it isn't in the bluebird house.  The hassle that the dozen or so house sparrows gave the bluebirds (the sparrows actually built a nest atop the bluebird nest) may have prevented bluebird use of the house--as happened last year.  The house wrens have either fledged their young or have been deluged by one of the heavy rains that we've had.  I don't want to possibly disturb them (in the house that Bogie gave us) to find out, but I've not seen or heard them for a couple of days.

Belatedly, I've been attempting to inventory my fabric stash so that I know how many yards of what fabric is "in stock".  The books had told me to do this, but I was slow to see the advantage.  The only thing that's bugging me, now, is that there are a few fabrics for which I've not been able to find electronic swatches.  I had told Buffy that I was going to make two Beginning Quilting class pieces:  one that doesn't get taken to class, but which I hope to keep ahead of class on, the other the class piece.  The theory is that I will have fewer bloopers if I practice on the quilt that doesn't go to class.  I don't know that I've saved myself from making the same mistake but the first strip of material that I cut (for the major framing pieces since they are long and with the long grain of the fabric) was a mistake.  After cutting the strip ever-so-beautifully, it occurred to me that I had cut it from the wrong fabric.  Overs!  Buffy, are you sure it's a good idea for me to be trying this?  (Stop snickering, Ronni!)

Buffy Inspires a Tale

Buffy has posted a picture of her beautiful flowers that line the walk to her door.  If you click on the link and go to her posting, you'll probably notice that there are some deep purple flowers in the mid-distance of the photo.    Since it's been a day or two since I've told a tale of my time at The Little Airplane Factory, I'll share one with you that was brought to mind by her picture.

Back in the days when the earth was still cooling, I was assigned to finish up a project on which at least 10 other engineers had worked, and given about six weeks to complete the task.  When they brought me in, it had been about 13 years since I had done that particular type of work which involved building and using a computerized mathematical model of aircraft structure...and...the project was about two years behind schedule.  After having a good laugh over the boss's expectations (I had been switched over into his organization on the same day that I had been handed the assignment, so we didn't know one another), I let him and his boss know that their expectations were totally unrealistic.  I told them that I was perfectly willing to update my technical and software skills in the area and to complete the project, but I could only do what I could do...and I had no good idea how long that might take (the answer was 26 months, but I didn't know it then!)

Since 10 other engineers had been working on the project, most of the basic computer model had been built.  The model (which was of an aircraft fuselage and cockpit, including a new, larger cabin door that was the installation being evaluated) could be displayed using CADAM on a graphics tube and I could select which pieces of the model to look at.  There were layers of skin (that appeared to be multitudinous squares, triangles, rectangles--all hooked together), layers of frames (that looked like sticks that were all hooked together), etc.  In order to look at different types of elements, alone, they were color-coded: the squares might show up as blue, some of the sticks might show up as red, etc.  It was a relatively simple matter for me to tell the software what color of elements I wanted displayed while I was adding finer detail in an area.  Now, this was back in the olden days--when we did not have PCs on our desks.  Our group of 37 people shared one PC with a 10 megabite hard drive.  Wow!  The model with which I was working was the largest, most complex model that anyone in the company was working on at the time and it, as all of our models did, ran on the mainframe computer.  To give you an idea of the challenges that we faced, the only way that I could effectively use the model was to use the disaster tape pack for temporary storage of data during a computer run.  The disaster tape pack was supposed to be used only in the event of an emergency.  (I convinced the computer people that my need constituted an emergency!)

About three or four months into my work with the model, it became apparent that something was wrong.  Things were not working right.  I checked everything that I knew to check and consulted with our modeling guru (from whom I had accepted handoff of the project).  We were flummoxed.  As I was reaching the end of my tether, I noticed an odd flash on the screen as I jabbed the light pen (this was before mice were used in computer graphics work, people) on the screen.  Exploring this further, I discovered that there were a batch of elements in the model of which I had been totally unaware.  The guru had chosen to make those elements a deep purple.  A color that I could not detect.  What a relief!  All I had to do was to make those elements a color that I could detect.

Back to Buffy's irises:  My eyes barely detect those flowers--they are nearly beyond the frequency range of my rods (isn't it the rods in the eye that detect color?  If not, I meant frequency range of my cones!)  But, I know that they are beautiful.  That's just the way Buffy's flowers are!

June 06, 2005 at 08:42 PM

Comments

Went over and looked at the Iris. Truly beautiful garden. We have something in common. I am married to an engineer:-) Your knowledge of computers at a time I knew nothing about them is pretty awesome. I rebeled when they first wanted to put a pc in my classroom and it took a few years for me to see their value in elementary education. Pretty silly as I look back on it.

Posted by: Maria | June 08, 2005 at 07:43 PM

Hi, Maria. I send you sympathies. Living with an engineer can be a challenge--or so my Hunky Husband informs me.
For those who haven't run across Maria, do click on the link to her weblog. She lives in the small-ish town of Ridgecrest CA. Ridgecrest was spawned by the needs of the personnel at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center (NWC) that lays just north of Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB). Like EAFB, the NWC is in high desert and specializes in testing; but, they test NAVAIR weapons systems rather than USAF aircraft. I must admit that the line between system and aircraft is so blurred that it's cutting hairs a bit finely to differentiate between the two missions.
Not being an expert on either military installation, I have at least a nodding acquaintance with each. I was program manager for a company (that was a subcontractor to NWC) on a (tiny) missile program. Earlier I had worked on several planning projects for the same company, a contractor at EAFB. Planning included that for test facilities/equipments to test such aircraft/systems as the B-2 during the succeeding 20-year period. In addition, my Younger Brother and his family have resided at China Lake or Ridgecrest since 1963, and have earned their livelihoods at the NWC.

Posted by: Cop Car | June 09, 2005 at 11:27 AM

Buffy has posted a picture of her beautiful flowers that line the walk to her door.  If you click on the link and go to her posting, you'll probably notice that there are some deep purple flowers in the mid-distance of the photo.    Since it's been a day or two since I've told a tale of my time at The Little Airplane Factory, I'll share one with you that was brought to mind by her picture.

Back in the days when the earth was still cooling, I was assigned to finish up a project on which at least 10 other engineers had worked, and given about six weeks to complete the task.  When they brought me in, it had been about 13 years since I had done that particular type of work which involved building and using a computerized mathematical model of aircraft structure...and...the project was about two years behind schedule.  After having a good laugh over the boss's expectations (I had been switched over into his organization on the same day that I had been handed the assignment, so we didn't know one another), I let him and his boss know that their expectations were totally unrealistic.  I told them that I was perfectly willing to update my technical and software skills in the area and to complete the project, but I could only do what I could do...and I had no good idea how long that might take (the answer was 26 months, but I didn't know it then!)

Since 10 other engineers had been working on the project, most of the basic computer model had been built.  The model (which was of an aircraft fuselage and cockpit, including a new, larger cabin door that was the installation being evaluated) could be displayed using CADAM on a graphics tube and I could select which pieces of the model to look at.  There were layers of skin (that appeared to be multitudinous squares, triangles, rectangles--all hooked together), layers of frames (that looked like sticks that were all hooked together), etc.  In order to look at different types of elements, alone, they were color-coded: the squares might show up as blue, some of the sticks might show up as red, etc.  It was a relatively simple matter for me to tell the software what color of elements I wanted displayed while I was adding finer detail in an area.  Now, this was back in the olden days--when we did not have PCs on our desks.  Our group of 37 people shared one PC with a 10 megabite hard drive.  Wow!  The model with which I was working was the largest, most complex model that anyone in the company was working on at the time and it, as all of our models did, ran on the mainframe computer.  To give you an idea of the challenges that we faced, the only way that I could effectively use the model was to use the disaster tape pack for temporary storage of data during a computer run.  The disaster tape pack was supposed to be used only in the event of an emergency.  (I convinced the computer people that my need constituted an emergency!)

About three or four months into my work with the model, it became apparent that something was wrong.  Things were not working right.  I checked everything that I knew to check and consulted with our modeling guru (from whom I had accepted handoff of the project).  We were flummoxed.  As I was reaching the end of my tether, I noticed an odd flash on the screen as I jabbed the light pen (this was before mice were used in computer graphics work, people) on the screen.  Exploring this further, I discovered that there were a batch of elements in the model of which I had been totally unaware.  The guru had chosen to make those elements a deep purple.  A color that I could not detect.  What a relief!  All I had to do was to make those elements a color that I could detect.

Back to Buffy's irises:  My eyes barely detect those flowers--they are nearly beyond the frequency range of my rods (isn't it the rods in the eye that detect color?  If not, I meant frequency range of my cones!)  But, I know that they are beautiful.  That's just the way Buffy's flowers are!

On Fabrics--and More Fabrics

To the Photo Gallery, I've added Fabrics on Hand.  No good reason to do that--I just felt like it (so sue me!)  If you go to look at them (and who knew that I had that many--actually, there are a bunch of fabrics for which I don't have swatches to upload) keep in mind these caveats:  1)  The swatches are mere representations.  They are small portions of a larger whole (in one, the fabric has huge amounts of gold, but the gold didn't make it into the swatch at all!) and seeing the swatches on screen can be deceiving.  Ordering fabric on the basis of swatches seen on screen is risky.  The swatch looks great--the fabric, itself, not so great.  The reverse happens, too.  Sometimes the fabric that I've bought locally looks fabulous; but, when I go pick up the swatch, it is blah--at best!  2)  If the thumbnail looks like a dark square, opening it into a full size picture will reveal the pattern.  Dark fabrics are harder (at least for me) to see on screen and appreciate how beautiful the fabric really is.  3)  The Photo Gallery software has its own method of arranging the files.  I've not been able to figure out what it is.  They are not arranged alphabetically, nor are they arranged in the order of upload.  It is possible that they are arranged according to the date/time tag that was attached to the file when it was first saved on my hard drive.  Who knows?  4)  Most of these fabrics are in my stash in tiny amounts--1/4 to 1/2 of a yard and, as I learned, again, last night, one loses fabric in squaring it up with the grain.  There is also shrinkage due to laundering the fabric/quilt.  This means that I effectively have even less than 1/4 yard of many of these.  That is OK.  One needn't have a huge amount of fabric to use it in quilting.  For those of you who already knew or who have read Buffy's postings enough to know the difference, my 1/4-yard hunks are fat quarters.

Last night I spent an inordinant amount of time squaring up four small pieces of fabric to be used in an upcoming project.  The quilting books give a couple of different methods of squaring up a piece of fabric.  I don't understand what they think they are accomplishing when they advise to square the fabric by 1) cutting perpendicular to a selvage or 2) by matching the selvages and sliding one edge of the fabric in relationship to the other until there are no wrinkles indicating misalignment, then cutting perpendicular to the fold.  If the fabric has become warped, one will be cutting across threads in using these methods.  Perhaps I misunderstand the methods or there is a flaw in my logic.  Maybe Buffy can explain it to me.  It's even possible that I will "see the light" and start using their method(s).  Don't count on it.  I'm old and set in my ways--lol.

How do I square the fabric with the grain?  I do what they taught me in 6th grade back in 1949:  I pull a thread.  If one pulls a cross-wise piece of thread (is that the warp or the weft--I forget), it reveals the cross-wise grain of the fabric.  One then cuts (I usually rip the fabric if it is cheap, but this induces considerably more waste!) along the thread.  I usually do this on either end.  Then I fold the fabric lengthwise, putting the selvage edges together and keeping the cut edge even.  If there are wrinkles across the folded fabric, it has been warped and I stress the fabric along the appropriate bias to coax it back into shape.  This can be a time consuming process, but it works. Usually.  Sometimes one must just give up and pitched the fabric as being beyond redemption.   

Last night, one of my 1-yard pieces ended up being 30" long.  Not all of the shrinkage was due to squaring the fabric--part would have been due to my having washed and ironed the piece; but, I had to cut a lot of it away at either end.  Two other 1-yard pieces became 35" (very good--almost entirely from shrinkage--Buffy sends good stuff!--green moire) and 34.5", respectively.  My 2-yard piece became 60"--and this was not a cheap hunk of cloth!  Fortunately, I believe that I can eke out everything that I need for the front and back of a small (41" x 41") piece.  If not, I'll just pick out a different fabric, of course!

June 06, 2005 at 10:55 AM

Comments

Although I am not a quilter myself I do other crafts like knitting and crochet. With those I've found myself to be very impatient. The thought of all that preparation before one starts work makes me shudder. You and Buffy are women of steel, clearly - I would have just pitched straight into the cutting and sewing.

Posted by: Adele | June 13, 2005 at 04:30 PM

I can't speak for Buffy; but, as an engineer it is my duty to analyze a thing to death--never mind doing it! It's a faulty trait that many of us engineers share. The "roll my sleeves up and get busy" type of people get a lot more accomplished!

Posted by: Cop Car | June 19, 2005 at 08:47 AM

To the Photo Gallery, I've added Fabrics on Hand.  No good reason to do that--I just felt like it (so sue me!)  If you go to look at them (and who knew that I had that many--actually, there are a bunch of fabrics for which I don't have swatches to upload) keep in mind these caveats:  1)  The swatches are mere representations.  They are small portions of a larger whole (in one, the fabric has huge amounts of gold, but the gold didn't make it into the swatch at all!) and seeing the swatches on screen can be deceiving.  Ordering fabric on the basis of swatches seen on screen is risky.  The swatch looks great--the fabric, itself, not so great.  The reverse happens, too.  Sometimes the fabric that I've bought locally looks fabulous; but, when I go pick up the swatch, it is blah--at best!  2)  If the thumbnail looks like a dark square, opening it into a full size picture will reveal the pattern.  Dark fabrics are harder (at least for me) to see on screen and appreciate how beautiful the fabric really is.  3)  The Photo Gallery software has its own method of arranging the files.  I've not been able to figure out what it is.  They are not arranged alphabetically, nor are they arranged in the order of upload.  It is possible that they are arranged according to the date/time tag that was attached to the file when it was first saved on my hard drive.  Who knows?  4)  Most of these fabrics are in my stash in tiny amounts--1/4 to 1/2 of a yard and, as I learned, again, last night, one loses fabric in squaring it up with the grain.  There is also shrinkage due to laundering the fabric/quilt.  This means that I effectively have even less than 1/4 yard of many of these.  That is OK.  One needn't have a huge amount of fabric to use it in quilting.  For those of you who already knew or who have read Buffy's postings enough to know the difference, my 1/4-yard hunks are fat quarters.

Last night I spent an inordinant amount of time squaring up four small pieces of fabric to be used in an upcoming project.  The quilting books give a couple of different methods of squaring up a piece of fabric.  I don't understand what they think they are accomplishing when they advise to square the fabric by 1) cutting perpendicular to a selvage or 2) by matching the selvages and sliding one edge of the fabric in relationship to the other until there are no wrinkles indicating misalignment, then cutting perpendicular to the fold.  If the fabric has become warped, one will be cutting across threads in using these methods.  Perhaps I misunderstand the methods or there is a flaw in my logic.  Maybe Buffy can explain it to me.  It's even possible that I will "see the light" and start using their method(s).  Don't count on it.  I'm old and set in my ways--lol.

How do I square the fabric with the grain?  I do what they taught me in 6th grade back in 1949:  I pull a thread.  If one pulls a cross-wise piece of thread (is that the warp or the weft--I forget), it reveals the cross-wise grain of the fabric.  One then cuts (I usually rip the fabric if it is cheap, but this induces considerably more waste!) along the thread.  I usually do this on either end.  Then I fold the fabric lengthwise, putting the selvage edges together and keeping the cut edge even.  If there are wrinkles across the folded fabric, it has been warped and I stress the fabric along the appropriate bias to coax it back into shape.  This can be a time consuming process, but it works. Usually.  Sometimes one must just give up and pitched the fabric as being beyond redemption.   

Last night, one of my 1-yard pieces ended up being 30" long.  Not all of the shrinkage was due to squaring the fabric--part would have been due to my having washed and ironed the piece; but, I had to cut a lot of it away at either end.  Two other 1-yard pieces became 35" (very good--almost entirely from shrinkage--Buffy sends good stuff!--green moire) and 34.5", respectively.  My 2-yard piece became 60"--and this was not a cheap hunk of cloth!  Fortunately, I believe that I can eke out everything that I need for the front and back of a small (41" x 41") piece.  If not, I'll just pick out a different fabric, of course!

Comments

[Adele]

Pottery too, on top of all the other things you do. Makes me feel like a real under-achiever. I hope you have to opportunity to do some more pot throwing. It would be a pity not to use that wonderful space and equipment.

I wish we had room here for some sort of hobby room. Not for a kiln but because I have a knitting machine that I have no room to put up. Before I married I had room for it but since you-know-who came on the scene... Perhaps I should take over one of the Stepkids old rooms. Mind you, somehow although they have both left home (one in a rented home with friends, the other at university) they both seem to think of here as their base and to turn up demanding a bed occasionally. As a Stepmum I have to be careful not to be acting like a Cuckoo.

[Cop Car]

Come on over. We can share!

[Buffy]

HA!!! You made me feel that I was the bad guy....luring you into the wonderful world of quilting, when EF and you have NO CONTROL! Soon you'll be reviving MACRAME! I can see the two of you opening a craft school one day! lol

Smart move, tiling that wall behind the kiln.

Our kiln was left behind when Elegante Mother returned to Illinois, so I no longer have that temptation.

Go throw a pot. Play with glaze. Enjoy the kiln, but remember....you're into quilting now, and your time for other things is limited! Muuuahahaha

[Cop Car]

Cruel driver that you are, Buffy!!
I failed to say that I also had the tiling above/about the sink in the laundry room extended up to the bottom of the upper cabinets. Not thinking about cleanup from potting, I had originally had a single course of tile laid above the sink. Splish, splash!

[Adele]

Frightening isn't it. The papers over here keep on publishing articles saying that it is a question of when the next flu pandemic appears, not if it appears.

[Cop Car]

Oh, absolutely, Adele!

[Cop Car]

A semi-related happening that really bothers me is the way the religious leaders in Africa have prevailed upon the populace to not have their babies immunized against polio. (According to them, the immunizations are a plot against Islam!) Polio could have been history by now if the mothers had accepted the immunization of their babies. As it is, polio may make resurgence into the world outside Africa. Bah! Humbug! To think that we could have, now, been re-directing the human and monetary resources from polio to AIDS or cholera or....

[Ronni Bennett]

Nice, Cop Car. In the larger view, it looks like the center is floating over a "meadow" of the butterfly print. Lovely.

[Cop Car]

Thank you, Ronni. The butterfly fabric has a story. I found a swatch of the butterfly fabric on a web site. It was shown in yellow, but the site said that it came in purple and in green. I immediately visited my local quilt shop to see if they had the purple print. They had already sold out of the print in any color. Back to the web.

I called the people whose web site had said that the print came in purple. They did, indeed, have the purple on hand--2 1/2 yards of it. Please send it to me. A couple of days later, I found a site that listed the purple print, so I ordered 2 yards from them.

When the 2 1/2-yard piece arrived a few days later, I was disappointed. I expected purple. It did have purplish-tinged blotches in the background, so I put the fabric away, wondering what I would do with 4 1/2 yards of a fabric that wasn't all that spectacular. Then the 2-yard piece arrived. It is a different color. I still wouldn't call it purple, but it's certainly more purple than the first fabric that arrived. So, now I had 2 1/2 yards of "pink" fabric and 2 yards of "blue" fabric.

When I signed up for the Beginning Quilting class, the shop had the small floral print that coordinated with the "pink" butterfly print; so, I decided to use those in my project. Now, I'm happy with the colors--not purple, but very acceptable. We never know.

[buffy]

WOW! You are an incredible student. I KNEW I wasn't explaining the concept of "value" well, and I'm delighted that you ran with it and found a clear definition. And, I caught that you have learned to use the red film to help determine value. Two other ways are to squint, or to use binoculars reversed. The red film is the best.

You know, every quilter I know has a story similar to yours, about how a top grew out of the purchase of a certain piece of fabric. You've learned not to trust someone else's color opinion, and not to buy fabric sight unseen. But, you've also stretched your design capabilities with this project, and learned about value. I'd say this project is a winner, and the recipient will LOVE it, and you.

[Cop Car]

Buffy--On the contrary, I think that you did an outstanding job of explaining "value" to me, the first time (remember my considering having HH take photographs and my printing them out on my black & white printer?) I just must have blinked or failed, entirely, to evaluate the value of the pink fabric in the Trial Piece. I did note in reading Candace Eisner Strick's "The Quilter's Quick Reference Guide" that, "You can also find green value finders that are good for viewing warm colors--red, orange, yellow, and violet. Use the red one for cool colors--blues and greens." Perhaps the explanation is that I was using the red viewer on both warm and cool colors (pink and green).

More than once, in discussions with my quilting instructor, she has remarked how lucky I am to have you as a mentor. She thinks that you've done/are doing a great job! (BTW: the instructor is young--even younger than Bogie!)

[Cowtown Pattie]

I keep seeing all these lovely quilts, and I think to myself, "Self, you should hie thee to a class", and of course, I don't and now I just lament I have not time.

I did attempt once upon a long long time ago, when I still had knee-biters around. My patience was about as long as the tail of a newborn kitten, and about as frazzled. Maybe I might try it again. I really like the friendship quilts, where you ask family members and friends to make one square and then you sew it all together.

[Cop Car]

Pattie--You are well ahead of me, then! The friendship quilts are great! In 1984, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. A couple of years before that, I came up with the idea of our (in secret) putting together a friendship quilt. The rest of the family agreed. A family vote made the quilt colors (non-metallic) gold & white. My sister-in-law, Expert Seamstress, volunteered to, with the help of her own mother, do the actual quilt construction--although, neither of them had ever made a quilt. They made three "trial" patches with candidate designs which were passed about the family. A modified Ohio Star, set with white sashing and gold intersection blocks (I forget what they are called), won the majority vote.

Having established a pattern that would provide five white squares per block, Expert Seamstress and her mother cut out all of the white squares for a full-size bed quilt, and mailed most of them to me (she lived in Santa Fe NM, her mother in Boulder CO, and I in Panama City FL, at this stage of the project). I wrote a letter to send with the squares and mailed one or more squares out to each of the people/families whose names I had weasled out of Mom as favored invitees--as I recall, between 150 and 200 of them. Each envelope also contained gold embroidery floss for their use, if they wished; but, since most of them were elderly, and many would not know how to embroider, they were invited to return the square with a penciled-in design or signature with the assurance that ES or I would do the embroidery.

By the time we started embroidering squares, I had moved to Albuquerque NM and was working in the Los Angeles CA area. It was nice to have a project that I could work on in my apartment in California.

Expert Seamstress and her mother put the quilt together with a large central block on which my parents's names were listed with the dates of their wedding and their 50th anniversary--with appropriate scrolls and flowers. (Oh--I failed to say that, in addition to the gold and white pieces of the quilt, ES used a tiny gold & tan floral print.) In addition, ES made a matching piece to lay across the pillows. The only concession that ES made to her not being a quilter was that she tied the top to the backing (knotting on the reverse side) rather than quilting it. She feared that quilting would destroy the signature blocks.

Mom & Dad were stunned, when we brought the quilt out at the family dinner we had the night before the big to-do. Mom couldn't believe that we could have kept such a project a secret. In fact, one of the women at her church had asked something about "the quilt"; but, since Mom loved to piece quilts, she just thought that the woman must be talking about a top that she was working on at the time!

The signature squares were quite varied. For my own, I put my first name and then satin-stitched a heart as a symbol of my love for Mom and Dad and a single-engine airplane because airplanes were what I was most-associated with. Our elder daughter (Dudette) drew around her own daughter's (Crazy Kid's) hand (CK was four years old, at the time it was drawn). One distant relative drew a little house and told us the color-scheme to use in embroidering it. ES did an outstanding job. I don't call her "Expert Seamstress" lightly. Her one-and-only quilt was more expertly pieced than I shall ever be able to achieve. Every intersection was "just so". Every seam was perfectly straight. A small museum in our home town now has the quilt. It was ES's request that the quilt be given to them after Mom died (Dad had died five years previously.) Happily and saddly, in the time between our receiving signature squares and the presentation of the quilt, three or four of the people had died. Mom was really happy that their squares were incorporated, but we were all sad that the people weren't there to celebrate with us.

[buffy]

I love the story of that quilt. I enjoy it every time I hear it. Ya bring a smile to my face when I think of your Mother's surprise!

The little blocks at the intersection of the sashing are sometimes called "set squares" or "setting squares." Their purpose is to help you keep the blocks aligned vertically. If you use one long sashing strip with no set squares, the vertical alignment tends to shift around a bit.

Cowtown Pattie.....If you send me your pattern, I'd be happy to make a friendship block to get your quilt started! So will Cop Car! (GRINS) Seriously, we will!

[Cop Car]

Pattie--Just because she was voted into our family, Buffy thinks she can just volunteer any one of us. *grinning* In this case she is absolutely correct. I would send you a block. Good luck!

Buffy--It's kind of you to be so accepting of the repetition. Now that I've actually blogged about the quilt for our parents's anniversary, perhaps I'll give it a rest and you won't be subjected to more iterations. (Please tell me that the only other times I've told the tale it has been in person, in comments to someone else's blog, and in email. I'd hate to think that I went to the trouble of posting it all in my blog, before!)

[bogie]

Because I know nothing, what is so special about 1/4 inch seam widths that Annette is not so sanguine about them?

[Adele]

Do you know what size to cut a piece of fabric so that it includes the seam allowance or do you have to guess? I am always leary of sewing patterns which do not have seam allowances and so you have to add them. Somehow I always end up with a wobbly line so my sewing line ends up a little odd.

Good luck. I'm glad you are enjoying yourself.

[Cop Car]

Answering the questions in the order asked:

Bogie--The accuracy of sewing a 1/4-inch seam determines how well the blocks fit together. In quilting, it is "standard" to cut pieces with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. The width of the seam isn't critical; but, it must be the same as the allowance that was included in cutting or the pieces won't fit together as planned. In this quilt, each 9-patch block will abut at least one "setting" block--a block that is a single piece of fabric. If I cut the setting block 9.5 x 9.5 (including the .25-inch seam allowance at each of the four edges), the 9-patch block must be 9.5 x 9.5, also, if there are to be no puckers when they are sewn together.

Obviously, if I cut each of the small pieces of the 9-patch unit with a .25-inch allowance, but sew a .2-inch seam, my accumulated error leaves me with a 9-patch that measures [9.5 + 4(.25-.2)] = 9.7 x 9.7--for joining to the 9.5 x 9.5 setting blocks. It gets even hairier if my seams vary in width.

Adele--I think that you can see that I've answered your question--mostly. I'll stick with basic stuff. Buffy could flood us with ways of doing different things.

For square, rectangular, or round pieces, the standard 1/4-inch seam is allowed for each dimension. Making triangles is done in different ways, depending upon what type of triangle is desired. The most commonly used triangles are formed as half-squares (obtained by splitting the square along one diagonal to produce two right-angle, isosceles triangles) or as quarter-squares (obtained by splitting the square along each diagonal to produce four isosceles triangles that are not right-angled). The seam allowance, in either case, may be determined by simple trigonometry and moving to the convenient 1/8-inch increment closest to the actual dimension. The short answer is: yes, we always know what allowance to cut. It just takes a little planning.

[bogie]

It just takes a little planning - must be why I don't sew (or quilt)!

[Cop Car]

Well, Buffy will beat me when she reads the posting--because--I lied. Each of the triangles that I addressed is a right-angled triangle. It's just that the half-square triangle's hypotenuse is the square's diagonal while the quarter-square triangle's hypotenuse is the square's width. Some mathematician I turn out to be, eh?

[buffy]

Similar advice is that we not live our lives as though they are a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Erma Bombeck, who delighted millions with her humor, wrote that she would have lived her life differently. She would have hugged her children more, and let them sit in the formal living room. She would have lit the candles that she kept for show.

What I need is guidance in how to put balance into my life: how to deal with the chores and obligations so that I have time for those things that make life worth living. It seems that there should be room for it all. Does anyone have a good manual for living the mature adult life??

[Cop Car]

Ms Bombeck didn't advertise the fact, but she was quite the philosopher. She was one neat woman. Would that I were nearly so wise!

[Susan]

I say help others but also take time for yourself. Plus, I try not to get upset about the little annoyances of life. Blogging has helped me do that. Rather than get upset, I now think to try to make it into a story.

[Cop Car]

Susan--It's always nice to have you drop in. The trials that you've been going through are enough to be worrisome, at times. You are much more patient than I would be with your aide. (That's where the blogging comes in, huh?)

[Adele]

You must have been on a good few shopping expeditions to get all the pieces of fabric you now have. On one of the lists i am on we call such expeditions SEX - short for Stash Expansion Expeditions. Works for me - though when I do it I buy yarn, yarn and yet more yarn.

[Cop Car]

There are several dozen skeins of yarn stuck away in my closets, Adele. Want some? I don't really knit (I've knit three sweater vests to completion and given them away to the local women's crisis center. I finished the knitting on a fourth vest about 18 months ago and just can't see well enough to stitch the front and back together!) About four months ago, I started an elbow-length poncho; but, my right hand hurts so much when I knit that I can only tolerate knitting about half of a round each day. The poncho may not be finished in my lifetime--lol. Do you really make sweaters and such?

[Adele]

Cop Car

Answering your last question first - Yes, I knit sweaters and have been doing so since I was very young. I learnt to knit and crochet when I was about 6 or 7 and it never occurred to me, or to those around me, that I couldn't make sweaters. I've recently finished a big aran one with lots of cables for the Husband.

I'm sorry to hear that knitting causes you pain. How exactly do you knit? If you are knitting with the yarn in your left hand try knitting with the yarn in your right hand. That's the way I knit and I've never had any pain.

But if you don't want the yarn I would be happy to take it off your hands *grin*

[Cop Car]

I knit with the yarn in my right hand, Adele, and had thought that knitting with the yarn in my left hand might be better. However, I am ill coordinated and don't relish the idea of trying to re-learn. For the last several years, I've used the computer mouse in my left hand to off-load my right. Since it is just clicking one button or the other, or rolling the scroll wheel, I can handle that! My mother taught herself to crochet, never learning to knit, and I taught myself to knit, never learning to crochet!
One must have the patience of Job to knit sweaters--especially Aran patterns. I am in awe of your accomplishments. Do you use wool or acrylic yarns?
My Elder Brother's mother-in-law knit beautiful sweaters; she made dozens of cardigans for her husband and for EB (mostly acrylic, but one or two wools). However, I don't believe she ever did any cable patterns (nor have I attempted it). Also, Hunky Husband's late sister made cable pattern Afghans (acrylic) for him and for their father--that I know of. She was estranged from the family for 9 of the 10 last years of her life. She had just started communicating with the family, again, in the several months before she was killed. We have both of the Afghans, now, and they are treasured. Eventually, Bogie and Dudette will get those treasures!

[Maria]

Went over and looked at the Iris. Truly beautiful garden. We have something in common. I am married to an engineer:-) Your knowledge of computers at a time I knew nothing about them is pretty awesome. I rebeled when they first wanted to put a pc in my classroom and it took a few years for me to see their value in elementary education. Pretty silly as I look back on it.

[Cop Car]

Hi, Maria. I send you sympathies. Living with an engineer can be a challenge--or so my Hunky Husband informs me.
For those who haven't run across Maria, do click on the link to her weblog. She lives in the small-ish town of Ridgecrest CA. Ridgecrest was spawned by the needs of the personnel at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center (NWC) that lays just north of Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB). Like EAFB, the NWC is in high desert and specializes in testing; but, they test NAVAIR weapons systems rather than USAF aircraft. I must admit that the line between system and aircraft is so blurred that it's cutting hairs a bit finely to differentiate between the two missions.
Not being an expert on either military installation, I have at least a nodding acquaintance with each. I was program manager for a company (that was a subcontractor to NWC) on a (tiny) missile program. Earlier I had worked on several planning projects for the same company, a contractor at EAFB. Planning included that for test facilities/equipments to test such aircraft/systems as the B-2 during the succeeding 20-year period. In addition, my Younger Brother and his family have resided at China Lake or Ridgecrest since 1963, and have earned their livelihoods at the NWC.

[Adele]

Although I am not a quilter myself I do other crafts like knitting and crochet. With those I've found myself to be very impatient. The thought of all that preparation before one starts work makes me shudder. You and Buffy are women of steel, clearly - I would have just pitched straight into the cutting and sewing.

[Cop Car]

I can't speak for Buffy; but, as an engineer it is my duty to analyze a thing to death--never mind doing it! It's a faulty trait that many of us engineers share. The "roll my sleeves up and get busy" type of people get a lot more accomplished!