Hello all,
Titan Pink quilts is having a name and look change. We are moving to http://dragonflystitchery.blogspot.com/. All of the quilt, non-giveaway, posts are being moved and given a facelift over the next few weeks, days, heck when we get around to it.
This blog will still be open. It's new life as our taste bud site. Here you will find places we eat and or drink at along with some random recipes.
This new journey should be fun. We hope to see you around.
Thanks!
Monday, June 29, 2015
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Hoots
I do adore Facebook.
It has allowed me to hook up & reconnect with people.
One person, for instance, is my sister's best friend from grade school, AT.
As if I didn't have enough quilts on my plate, I decided just after reconnecting with AT, that she needed a baby quilt for, at the time, unborn baby boy.
In it was Hootananny, the cover art.
I thought this would be perfect.
So, DH & I pulled some fabric to make it:
Building part 1
Building part 2
The completed top
Once I had the top done in 2011, I thought I would hand quilt it in a continuous circle pattern.
Towards the middle of the summer of 2013 & I hadn’t finished the quilting.
At that point, I was barely 1/5th of the way done.
I decided that I was getting nowhere with it.
So out comes the frogger, aka stitch ripper.
Rip it, rip it, rip it.
Completely frogged and I run out of basting spray.
Here we are in 2015, and the quilt is still in PhD status.
Whoops.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Happiness is...
Happiness is my second finished quilt for the year and number three is following in short pursuit.
My first finish of the year was a commission piece.
The quilt was queen sized with a couple of nice borders.
My favorite part of the quilt was that it was a completely new design.
I loved the pattern so much I have to make it again.
I am calling the pattern "Tangled Tumbler."
It is based on a cross between a disappearing 9-patch and a tumbler.
This is one type of finished block.
And this is the other.
My silly brain forgot to take a finished picture before the quilt went to its new home. Or even a shot with the borders. How do you remember to take photos?
My second finish is this little baby.
It's a baby quilt for my godson.
A gal is guild gave me some flannel triangles that I stitched on point.
Not only did I remember to take a photo of the completed quilt, I also remembered the label.
I think it's sweet.
What do you think?
My first finish of the year was a commission piece.
The quilt was queen sized with a couple of nice borders.
My favorite part of the quilt was that it was a completely new design. I loved the pattern so much I have to make it again.
I am calling the pattern "Tangled Tumbler."
This is one type of finished block.
And this is the other.My silly brain forgot to take a finished picture before the quilt went to its new home. Or even a shot with the borders. How do you remember to take photos?My second finish is this little baby.
It's a baby quilt for my godson.
A gal is guild gave me some flannel triangles that I stitched on point.
Not only did I remember to take a photo of the completed quilt, I also remembered the label.
I think it's sweet.
What do you think?
In the coming weeks, be on the look out for my Etsy store, Titan Pink Quilts.
Here I am planning on having patterns and quilts created by me.
This turn is because, over the last year or two, I have been testing other people's quilt patterns.
It has been fun.
More importantly this little adventure of testing patterns has given me many ideas that I am not seeing in the quilting world.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Eclectic Elements
Hi all,
I have been invited to my very first blog hop. This one is all about Tim Holtz and his Eclectic Elements line of fabric and embellishments. For my part in the blog hop, I redid my old corkboard. My old one was showing some wear:
I have been invited to my very first blog hop. This one is all about Tim Holtz and his Eclectic Elements line of fabric and embellishments. For my part in the blog hop, I redid my old corkboard. My old one was showing some wear:
The frame I thought was super pretty.
So with this in mind, I ran to my studio and searched my stash for my Tim Holtz fabric.
And this is what I came up with:
I ran to Joannes and picked up some lovely little embellishments which I glued to some thumb tacks.
Originally I was going to redo the diagonal ribbons and add the thumb tacks at the cross points.
Then I got the idea, just a few diamonds would be cute. This is what I ended up with:
I am pretty happy with it.
Why don't you go and check out the other wonderful folks that are participating in this blog hop!
Friday, November 28, 2014
Dissapointment in a box
zzz Quil... I had hoped you would be wonderful. Alas you are not. Headaches every morning.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
A new me
Not too long ago my friend was posting about this awesome box she got from Influenster. She was all about the looks and products. I thought to myself... I have to try it out. Now, I have my first box. back when I lived in Dallas, I tried Mary Kay. At that time I didn't wear much makeup & thought their products were okay (at best). Now I have a handful of Mary Kay products to try. I am in love with the Lash Love® Mascara in I ♥ Black, Mango Tango nourishine plus lip gloss and the apricot twist cream eye color. Funny thing about the lip gloss is I typically run away from anything Mango. This stuff is now part of my daily wear.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
The loving tree
There are so many cute couples in my life. There is one in particular that has known each other since high school. They got married over Labor Day weekend. I almost had their quilt done before the wedding. Alas, my quilting got goobered up on the border, and I had to frog it. Thus, the hand binding I was doing had to take a pause. I took me just long enough to miss having the quilt done before the wedding.
The process began with asking what their favorite colors and shapes were. They said neutrals, nothing overly bright, with words or anything too funky. So DH & I dug thru my stash. What did I find? Some pretty tree fabric I bought when we were in Wylie for a week. Specifically, Beautiful Trees by Camelot Cottons in a fat quarter bundle.
Next, we looked at a ton of quilt patterns. Had a couple of ideas, but nothing was like "YES!" Then we pulled other coordinates to see what we could come up with. Not really enough to make any specific pattern, especially after we got to cutting. Just not enough for a wonky log cabin or anything. The light bulb went off! And this is what we came up with
The process began with asking what their favorite colors and shapes were. They said neutrals, nothing overly bright, with words or anything too funky. So DH & I dug thru my stash. What did I find? Some pretty tree fabric I bought when we were in Wylie for a week. Specifically, Beautiful Trees by Camelot Cottons in a fat quarter bundle.
Next, we looked at a ton of quilt patterns. Had a couple of ideas, but nothing was like "YES!" Then we pulled other coordinates to see what we could come up with. Not really enough to make any specific pattern, especially after we got to cutting. Just not enough for a wonky log cabin or anything. The light bulb went off! And this is what we came up with
Similar to a coin purse type of pattern, with sashing between the charm squares. The sashing was 2.5 inches. Nice & balanced, so I think.
Borders. Yes, it needs borders:
Now on to the basting. I thought I would try glue basting. Precisely, mixing water & Elmer's glue, misting on each layer of the quilt and ironing the water out. It worked. My ratio was 3 parts water to 1 part glue. I just didn't like the crispyness of the texture. This said I am going to keep buying basting spray until I have a frame to quilt on.
The quilting is a fun swirly pattern throughout the top and the outer border has a nice loopy pattern. The binding is done by hand. I wrapped the backing fabric around to the front with about 1/2 inch showing.
The gift was given and much loved.
With Love
And on the third day,
she rose,
she ascended,
to be the angel,
and the Shepard,
we all needed.
she rose,
she ascended,
to be the angel,
and the Shepard,
we all needed.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Halloween Giveaway
To all of the people I know in real life and cyber life... Halloween is a great time for many people. I love the decorations and yummy food of fall and Halloween. This year I thought I would do something super special. At the end of this week, so like Saturday the 22 of September I will be drawing a random number to giveaway a Halloween themed mug rug.
A mug rug? You ask. Yes, a mug rug is a quilty term for a mouse pad that is used to hold cookies (aka a treat) and a beverage. This giveaway is open to the entire world. I will ship it.
So, all you have to do is leave me a comment here and make sure I have your email. And I will use a random number generator to select the winner on Saturday, September 22nd.
A mug rug? You ask. Yes, a mug rug is a quilty term for a mouse pad that is used to hold cookies (aka a treat) and a beverage. This giveaway is open to the entire world. I will ship it.
So, all you have to do is leave me a comment here and make sure I have your email. And I will use a random number generator to select the winner on Saturday, September 22nd.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Squeal! I won.
Thank you very much Lisa from In The Boondocks for the lovely thread.
I can't wait to play with them.
Monday, September 2, 2013
New plan; new goals
Blogging and posting have seriously changed my way of thinking. Before I kinda thought of a blog as just a journal. Which in some ways it is. Now this "Grand Ambition" has changed. Before I would only write randomly about quitly stuff. My plan is to take each & every quilt I make and give it a post. Some quilts like Sir Duke might end up with multiple posts because he's a beast of a project. But those will probably be few & far between. The point of these posts is to chart my progress as a quilter and to make remarks about what I have learned.
A few years ago, it has really been that long, I took the process pledge. It includes prompts like: - Do you have any new sketches to show?
- Is this design inspired by a past quilt or someone else's quilt you saw (link, please)?
- Does the color palette come from somewhere specific?
- Are you trying to evoke a specific feeling?
- Is this quilt intended for a specific person? How did that inform your choices?
- Are you following a pattern, emulating a block you saw somewhere, using a liberated process, or totally winging it?
- What are you hating about this quilt at this stage? What do you love?
- Did you push yourself to try something new?
- In working on the quilt, are you getting ideas about what you might want to try next? What? Did you sketch it?
Well, I have never posted my follow through of this pledge.
So this is a new go. Wish me luck on the follow through.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Thread, thread, THREAD!
There was a post recently and not so recent that showed really great close up photos of thread from many of the makers out there. It was highly enlightening. This post caused me to go through all of my thread and sell my non-compatible treads. All of my rayon & polyester threads are for sale here: http://denver.craigslist.org/art/4037494130.html
This is the post that got me thinking: favorite tools aurifil thread
Which then led me to this post: your sewing thread under microscope
My response to those posts was... ahh, that makes total sense now. These 2 posts, I am sure there are more out there on the subject, confirmed what my hands were telling me. I am super picky about the fabric I use. I should have been better about the threads as well. My deepest apologies to the folks who have polyester thread for quilting and other parts. I was unaware. Now to have the funds to add the awesome Aurifil threads to my stash.
This is the post that got me thinking: favorite tools aurifil thread
Which then led me to this post: your sewing thread under microscope
My response to those posts was... ahh, that makes total sense now. These 2 posts, I am sure there are more out there on the subject, confirmed what my hands were telling me. I am super picky about the fabric I use. I should have been better about the threads as well. My deepest apologies to the folks who have polyester thread for quilting and other parts. I was unaware. Now to have the funds to add the awesome Aurifil threads to my stash.
What's in a Name?
I grew up with TS Elliot's Naming of Cats...
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
So they mean something to me. All of our pets, 5 in total, have chosen their names much like the poem above.
Now my sewing machines are getting names. First my Janome 1600P is named Beast from the X-men. It is a brilliant workhorse. My older Janome HeartTruth needs one, Gambit is coming to mind. As the machine has many tricks but runs a bit less powerful than Beast. Might try to stick with the Comic theme. Then there is the Treadle gift to me by my dad; it will need a name. And if I ever get the machine from the gal I used to work with there's another name. Eek, now I am in a slight panic about the names.
I have even fretted over the name of this blog and the title to which the header is. Titan Pink was the name of a video game character that I made & fell madly in love. She was awesome. Then the title herein "Grand Ambition." Truly seems fitting. As I still feel it is quite some work to make and keep up this blog. One could say that I haven't hit my stride yet. Though I think I am doing better.
I also fidget over the names of the quilts I make. Making sure that name gets on the quilt has been a process. It's not like in art I can just say the name is xxxxx and it was done xxxx. Now I have to create a label so that the person receiving the quilt knows this forever. S@#$, s@#$, s@#$!
All of that being said, I do love quilting and its infinite ways of creativity.
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
So they mean something to me. All of our pets, 5 in total, have chosen their names much like the poem above.
Now my sewing machines are getting names. First my Janome 1600P is named Beast from the X-men. It is a brilliant workhorse. My older Janome HeartTruth needs one, Gambit is coming to mind. As the machine has many tricks but runs a bit less powerful than Beast. Might try to stick with the Comic theme. Then there is the Treadle gift to me by my dad; it will need a name. And if I ever get the machine from the gal I used to work with there's another name. Eek, now I am in a slight panic about the names.
I have even fretted over the name of this blog and the title to which the header is. Titan Pink was the name of a video game character that I made & fell madly in love. She was awesome. Then the title herein "Grand Ambition." Truly seems fitting. As I still feel it is quite some work to make and keep up this blog. One could say that I haven't hit my stride yet. Though I think I am doing better.
I also fidget over the names of the quilts I make. Making sure that name gets on the quilt has been a process. It's not like in art I can just say the name is xxxxx and it was done xxxx. Now I have to create a label so that the person receiving the quilt knows this forever. S@#$, s@#$, s@#$!
All of that being said, I do love quilting and its infinite ways of creativity.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Least favorite step
So here I was making a facebook post that just blew up into a rant. As to not offend any of the quilters there I thought the rant would do better here.
My weekend plan is to finish the quilts that are almost done I need 2 things: basting spray & thread. Guess I will either work on my hand piecing projects or start other quilts that have been in the planning stages. One quilt I ran out of thread 3/4 of the way though quilting it. ARG! Really I could use a third thing: backing fabric for the Batman quilt that is ready to go as well.
I need the basting spray because I don't like the results of pin or thread basting. Especially after DH pointed out that he things the true definition of insanity lies in pin/thread basting.
I really dislike basting. I wish it wasn't such a needed step. So much work for a temporary need. I guess the only way around not basting is getting a frame for my Beast. (Yes, I have named my main machine.) Or take them to the longarm shop. Hmm. Naw, I like quilting in my house with my music and such like.
My train of thought is quite scattered today. Just writing about the name of the machine spawned another post. And above where I mentioned thread, well keep your eyes open for that post as well.
My weekend plan is to finish the quilts that are almost done I need 2 things: basting spray & thread. Guess I will either work on my hand piecing projects or start other quilts that have been in the planning stages. One quilt I ran out of thread 3/4 of the way though quilting it. ARG! Really I could use a third thing: backing fabric for the Batman quilt that is ready to go as well.
I need the basting spray because I don't like the results of pin or thread basting. Especially after DH pointed out that he things the true definition of insanity lies in pin/thread basting.
I really dislike basting. I wish it wasn't such a needed step. So much work for a temporary need. I guess the only way around not basting is getting a frame for my Beast. (Yes, I have named my main machine.) Or take them to the longarm shop. Hmm. Naw, I like quilting in my house with my music and such like.
My train of thought is quite scattered today. Just writing about the name of the machine spawned another post. And above where I mentioned thread, well keep your eyes open for that post as well.
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