Long-awaited Walking Dead Quilt is DONE!

Warning: this will be a very picture-heavy post. I've tried to restrain myself, but...too much goodness to share.

This all started over Thanksgiving. Shopping the JoAnn Black Friday sale, my mom stumbled upon some Walking Dead fabric right before our number was called at the cutting counter. We had no idea what we were going to do with it, but we knew that we had to have it. Three were cotton prints, one was a flannel (the latter of which I haven't used yet). I'm not exactly sure when the idea for this baby came to me, but it was sometime during the making of my wanderlust quilt (around Christmas) that I thought about doing something similar, using a quote or catchphrase combined with a visual symbol of each person.

 

I eagerly started crowdsourcing ideas from my parents (both loyal fans) and friends, though I will say that I already had quite a list of ideas going (more ideas than what made it into the quilt, actually!).

I wanted a good representation of all of the main characters, or as many as I could get. Some were easy to think of (Michonne = katana, Rick = sheriff's badge, hat), and some proved much more challenging.

 
[Rick's badge, Michonne's katana, and poor Carl, copied from a design found here.]

Re-watching the New Years marathon certainly helped come up with more good quotes. Rick and Carl ended up over-represented, Lori got left out (spoiler alert: I was so happy when she died!).

[More Rick, asking the important questions. Daryl's wings and best quote ever. Maggie's quote coupled with what she's (not) afraid of - she doesn't have an easily recognizable symbol, does she?]

There are a few designs that I just think are kind of brilliant and/or particularly well-executed:

[Sign on the tree Daryl and Andrea found, along with a (grim) noose that I really like the look of. Rick's pistol, with the "Python .357 very intricately made (better up-close). Carol's revolver with some pretty flowers.]

Another favorite: the map leading to Terminus, with the same handwriting as is found on the signs. And, drum-roll, please...a signed logo square (more on that in a minute)!

That's right, as soon as I found out about Walker Stalker Con Chicago (Feb. 21st), I knew I had to finish this and take it with me. The deadline was pretty tight. I had 20 squares to finish embroidering, interfacing, squaring up, and then the back to create. 

The back...I am really proud of. I got the idea to blood-splatter it, how fitting is that? My first idea was to use some fabric dye and really get in there and splash it around. But where to do it? I wanted to hang it over the fence, but my yard was covered in three feet of snow - not very practical. Then a friend suggested doing it in the shower for easy clean-up. Great idea in theory, but in practice? I ended up with dye in my nose (for DAYS afterwards), bruises from slipping and sliding in the shower, dye splattered on everything in the bathroom, and when I washed the fabric and all was said and done...I had a blotchy pink sheet. Sigh. So much for that idea. 

Luckily, I found some good fabric paint, and after some trial and error, developed a method to my madness (involving some painting and some really fun splattering).

Now, back to the con: 

I met T-Dog (a.k.a. Irone Singleton), who gave me a HUGE hug and signed my quilt! He was such a sweetheart, spent several minutes with each person in line, had conversations with them, and seemed to really care what they were saying.

 

I also met Daniel Thomas May (Allen, one of Tyrese's group) - before things got too crazy we were able to have a nice convo with him. I apologized that I didn't have a square for him, but he was still impressed, ha. He actually asked me if he could take a picture with me and the quilt!

 

I also chatted for a bit with the actors who played Jackie and Jim. They admired my quilt, but no autographs or pics because I was feeling cheap (who knew cons charged so much for that stuff?)

Finally, Jay Bonansinga, author of the Walking Dead novels, first admiring, and then signing, my quilt. Turns out my friend knew him!

I also had to include a shot of my favorite group of cosplayers - these people were seriously impressive:

[Daryl, Beth, Maggie, and Glenn]

All in all, it was a pretty fun day. I caught lots of people admiring my quilt, pointing, staring, and some even asked me where I got it...to which I proudly got to say, "I made this!" I handed out a few business cards, and am even thinking about offering custom designs on Etsy (though I never have much luck with sales!)

And, if you're still with me, some more close-ups:

[Rick encouraging Lori to have hope after Carl was shot, because instead of talking about horrible things when he woke up, "He talked about the deer." Beth's best quote, along with the instrument she used to take her revenge. Shane's necklace with Rick's quote (because Shane didn't have any good, short quotes). The prison, and "pulling together."]

 

[Can't remember whose quote this was, but that brain is seriously impressive. More Daryl, because you can't have a Walking Dead quilt without a crossbow. The group's motto (when they can follow it).] 

[Herschel's quote and crutches. Glenn's "walker bait." And of course, baby asskicker.]

This turned out to be a pretty decent stash-bust. Almost 3 yards of Walking Dead fabric, a huge king bedsheet (which I'm counting as 4 yards), and some interfacing and batting I had on hand. The only thing I bought for this was the fabric paint (and dye, whoops), and the bias binding. I really got my nerd on with this one, and I love it!

*Edited to add: I'm now taking custom orders! Visit my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ForWhoItsFor

Wanderlust Quilt

I love to travel. Ever since got off of the plane to study abroad in Barcelona when I was 19, it's been in my blood. I lived abroad for 2 years and during that time, traveled to around 15 countries. This wanderlust inspired me to start my globe collection (currently at 7 globes and 2 big pieces of map artwork), my travel-themed scrapbook paper collection, and, though it's harder to find, my travel-themed fabric collection, the latter of which led to this beauty: 

I found the fabric with the cancelled postage stamps a while back and, though I didn't have a specific plan in mind, I just had to have it. 

My mom found these iron-on embroidery patterns on clearance at Hobby Lobby and knew I'd love them. I'd never done any embroidery before, but she was right, I did absolutely adore them. My initial plan was to only use the patterns for the countries I'd visited, but another plan began to take its place once I found this fabric:

I picked it up at a garage sale last summer, and the kitchy world landmarks print initially reminded of Roisin at Dolly Clacket, though I didn't think I was quite adventurous enough to wear it like I imagined she would. I snagged 3 yards of it and once I got it home, it all began to come together. 

I only used 10-12 different colors of embroidery floss for all of the prints - I really like that the instructions have you use colors that coordinate so well.

Once I got the idea, I could barely stop. Even when it came time for all of the tedious bits (interfacing, squaring up), I plunged through it like a champ.

I'm so so happy with the way it turned out, especially considering I'm a relative novice at both embroidery and quilting. I didn't cut many corners on this like I normally would - I wanted it as close to perfect as I could get it. (It looks much wrinklier in these pics than in real life.)

Will definitely approves, too. I barely got all of the cat hair off of it before he jumped on it again! Everything but the bias binding was from my stash - great start to the new year!

Where's your wanderlust taking you these days?

Oh! I also finally joined the bandwagon on Instagram - my username (is that what the kids are calling it?) is forwhoitsfor. Lots of sneak peeks on there, and I'm always looking to follow more crafty ladies (and gents)!

Well this is embarrassing

I finished this months ago (probably at least 4 or 5), but was seriously struggling to figure out how to display it. Embroidery hoop? Nope, didn't give myself enough extra room. Square frame? Same problem. Finally I just took the dang thing with me to JoAnn and realized that it would fit perfectly into a standard 8x10 frame.

Duh. Cross stitch 1, Alicia 0. 

This is based on Satsuma Street's Pretty Little Disney pattern, with color changes based on what I had on hand. When I started it, we were preparing for a trip to Disney and I was feeling simultaneously nostalgic and excited. However, once I finished it, I realized I would probably never hang it.

Luckily, once I finally showed my mom (who had better not be reading!) the finished (un-framed) project, she said that she'd like to have it. Woohoo, that makes for 2 Christmas presents down in one week! 

I'll admit that I got really tired of working on this about halfway through, but I powered through it so I could justify moving on to something else. I haven't ruled out cross stitch, but it might need to be a once-a-year type of thing...

...although I just realized that Satsuma Street has a new Barcelona pattern! (I spent 5 months there when I was 19, which sparked my wanderlust and will always hold a special place in my heart.) That might have to go on the queue ASAP. Now, if we could just get her to make a Chicago one...

The Little Prince

I'm know I'm not the only one who shares a fondness for this beloved children's book, right? I wasn't introduced to it until high school, when we read it for my second-year French class. It was a difficult read at first, but once I understood what was going on, I fell in love, just like everyone else. 

I'm a big book lover (still waiting for my in-home library to happen!), and when I started traveling abroad, I decided that I wanted to get a book in the language(s) of every country I visited. One of my first stops was the Basque province in Spain, where I couldn't figure out just what to get, so I picked up a Roald Dahl book (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, maybe?) on a whim. But the more I traveled, the more I realized that I wouldn't always be able to spend countless hours searching for the *perfect* book in whatever bookstore we happened to cross. I'm not sure what made me think of it, but eventually I decided that collecting the same book in a variety of languages might be a good way to go. Given The Little Prince's popularity (making it easier to find), along with my love for the story, it was settled. 

 [Copies in French, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Czech, and German. It was really really hard to find a copy in Arabic, unfortunately, and there are a few others I'm still missing.]

Fast-forward almost ten years, to a point where I felt that, amongst all of the other hobbies that I can perform at a level somewhere between mediocre and decent, I needed to throw embroidery into the mix. I'm going to blame this pin for the idea: 

[Olympia Le Tan book clutch]

Do you guys have any idea how badly I want one (or all) of these? Charlotte's Web never held any particular appeal for me, but The Little Prince? Now that's a different story. (I think I'd really like a Harry Potter one, too, and...others that are TBD at the moment.)

However, I thought it would be a good idea to get just a *little* bit of embroidery practice before launching into something like this, right? I set off to Google images and found a couple of designs I liked (with the title in French, naturally), and got to work. 

All in all, this really didn't take too long, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

I got to practice quite a few techniques, including a satin stitch (which I then outlined in a back stitch, because it was really quite messy)...

...French knots and Lazy Daisys...

...and some proper back-stitching.

I still need to clean it up a bit, a.k.a. trim the edges, find the right hoop (this one's my favorite to work with and cannot be relegated to a wall), and back it in something so it's suitable for hanging.

Does anyone else have any embroidery experience? I've already got about a million more projects lined up, I figure it'll be a good way to while away the cold winter hours that will be here before I know it.

What's happening

Unfortunately, I don't have too much to share right now. Between the move, unpacking/getting settled, having a million and one friends in town, and my parents almost constantly being here to help with house stuff, I haven't had a whole lot of time to create. 

Luckily, I did manage to get a couple of blurry cell phone sneak peaks of my craft space and a quick new project, though!

This was my first attempt at embroidery, and it sure looks a whole lot better than the crappy paper I had in these frames before, doesn't it?

I promise I'll get better pictures of these for my craft room reveal, but I'm very pleased with how they're turning out. These little pieces allow me to accomplish a little something crafty even though the rest of the room isn't ready for me to get back to sewing.

But speaking of sewing, look at all (okay, half) of my lovely fabric stash! It's nice to not have to store things in 14 different places anymore...

Hopefully I'll be able to start posting more regularly soon, but for now, I'll take what I can get. Is anyone else as overwhelmed with how quickly this summer is flying by?