Spring Stitching

Happy Spring everyone unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, then Happy Autumn!  Either way, the temperate seasons we’re coming into are beautiful!

Last week I mentioned but didn’t show my purple improv (scrap) blocks. They’re 8.5 inches and I had enough of the smaller scraps to do 8. I still have larger chunks of purple scraps - from fat eighths to FQs, but I didn’t cut them up for these blocks. I`m doing other quilt tops that may call for those larger chunks. If not, they’ll be ready for RSC2017.  Speaking of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, why not join us over at Angela’s SoScrappy for Scrappy Saturday. There is always lots of great eye candy!

This week I finished my Birds and Bees quilt which uses mostly fabrics by Tamara Kate for Michael Miller. I love the navy fabric with colored stars, but am not crazy about it as the first border. The quilt finished at about 56x64” (after washing), so it’s not a huge quilt.  I worked out the pattern on Pattern Jam according to the fabric I had on hand. We forgot to take a picture of the back which is made up of the outer border fabric, plus the binding fabric (aqua) and yellow. The quilting is a simple stipple and batting is Warm & Natural Plush. It will go into the linen closet to be added to the pile of Quilts for Christmas Gifts this year.

This is also a finish for my 1st Quarter Finish Along Goals, #6 to be specific.  And this is the 3rd quilt finish this quarter.  I am hoping to possibly finish one more this month.

I have finished three more Splendid Sampler blocks since the last time I shared. They have just introduced block #12 (the 36-patch ), but I have only done 10 blocks to date. Two of the introduced blocks have lots of embroidery and I am not enjoying that right now after doing my crazy quilts (see older blog posts) for the last 15 years.

The bottom block was supposed to have an embroidered center, but I included a Lori Holt little fabric piece instead  and then surrounded it with selvages. It did not turn out as I hoped. In fact, I think it’s fugly.  But it’s done and it’s staying as is. In a quilt, who will know or care?

Moving along, this is what I am working on now. I was originally doing some crazy-pieced 6-inch blocks with the thought of graduating the colors as I went around. But it wasn’t looking good. Then I pinned the 2.5” black strip around it and really liked that. So, from this picture I have decided to include the black border, skip the crazy patch, eliminate the red and olive green, and cut off the top light blue/white part of the print.

And then the colored outer border surrounding the black inner border will be pavers (bricks) of color, and most of them will be from two fat eighth assortments from Vicki Welsh in Blue/Green color wheel and Grape. They are drool-worthy!  So, hopefully I can finish this up next week.

Have a wonderful Easter!

My Sewing Studio: Purple Haze

It’s PURPLE month in March for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. And as this is also my birthday month (and a new iPad Air will be mine this weekend!), I am tickled purple that Angela at So Scrappy has chosen it for us.  The accent color, which is optional, is yellow. A little yellow goes a long way (especially with its complement, purple), so we will see how that goes.....

For the last month I have been dying from   suffering with dealing with the nasty 100-day virus.  Let’s just say that my personal color for February was green..... (ewwww!)   But even though it’s only been 4 weeks, I feel so wonderful today as I write this. It has been in the high sixties temperature-wise today, and I have thrown open the windows to get some fresh air. I’ve had no meds for 24 hours, and I even slept through the night with no coughing or nose-blowing. I have energy!!  It is common to feel good with this virus, then relapse, but I am hoping that maybe I’m finally over whatever it was..... Fingers crossed.

So, here is my Purple Progress for this week:

These are the Vintage Sheet Rail Fence 9.5” blocks. There are 12 of them, and they will join the 18 blue and 3 brown. At the end of the RSC (or maybe I should just say “at the end of the rainbow”) there will be enough to make some sort of zig-zag rainbow scrappy sheet quilt. Or something.

I did pull all my purple scraps and sort them by size. I have been cutting like a madwoman and the picture below is my proof.  It contain the makings of: 12 kittens (foreground on tray), Mama Cat (purple with yellow stars fabric pile on right, 2 piles of 20 Dresden blades to be made into two blocks (one on pale pink, one on pale yellow) and 2.5” squares which will be sewn into 10-12-ish 16-patch blocks with white and black centers.

I hope to get at least half of that done this week, as I expect Angela will be introducing our RSC Challenge Quilt Block for March. Then I will need to make lots of those, depending on size.   Whatever is left over from that will go into purple crumb slabs....

And although there is a purple haze in the studio this month, I am working on several other things (like any quilter worth her salt, right?)

I am playing along with the Splendid Sampler hosted by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson. These are my first five blocks. I chose those colors because they are what I have most of in my stash, and I wanted to trim them down. The result is a very girly-girly look, which is really not me, but IS perfect for my granddaughters. So who knows how long I will play along or how many quilts it will end up making. I’m thinking that by the time these 6” blocks are done (100 of them in the Sampler), I can sew up some basic alternate blocks to use with them. Another one to wait on and see....

The block below is my favorite. It was designed by Jen Kingwell, However, instead of using fabric circles as the pattern calls for, I went with my crazy-quilting background to add crocheted flowers, bits of lace flowers, yo-yos and some embroidered greenery.  And doesn’t that green fabric look rather like enamelware?

The project below is that Hoffman digital cityscape print that I am adding borders to. I have two of the prints and will do the  same for both.  They should both finish out at about 48x60, which is either a large wall hanging or small lap quilt. As I get further along, I will be using a lot of my Vicki Welsh hand-dyed batiks in the border piecing. Stay tuned.

And finally, my Birds and Bees quilt has been pieced and bordered. I have the backing sewn and the batting ready. All I need to do is baste it in order to quilt it. But I have not felt remotely like doing that for weeks.  If these good vibrations keep up, however, I expect I may baste and quilt it this week.

Sorry for the long post. The non-purple items should have been a separate post earlier in the week, but...... you guessed it. I didn’t feel like it.

If you like scraps, why not join us at So Scrappy for Scrappy Saturday, and see what everyone else has been doing with their purple!

I Needed a Vacation from my Vacation

As I wrote the title of my post I thought of the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it!”  I felt I needed a vacation so badly because I was sick of winter and the cold, nasty weather/air here in the Salt Lake Valley.  I felt as though it had been nose-to-the-grindstone sewing and cooking and housework and entertaining for weeks. Months. I cannot express how much I was looking forward to getting down to Tubac, AZ, where Bruce’s siblings all live. It is all the way south in AZ - south of Tucson and Green Valley even.

The weather was perfect. Low to mid eighties (F) all week. BUT.  There were too many of us cramped into the family double-wide mobile home that serves as our (free) accommodations. Five of us adults with one bathroom. I know this is the norm for some people, but Bruce and I live in a home with 3 bathrooms, so it was, um, different. And then there was the lack of privacy (except in our own bedroom). Too much family quibbling, even though we love them all dearly. And the kicker - we were (and are) sick. The cold that we had prior to leaving (that had seemed to abate for our 14-hour drive) came back with a vengeance and spread among all but (thankfully) our law-school-attending niece.

I did take daily walks in the glorious sunshine. The picture above is not much, I know, but it was the only one I snapped. It is looking at the Tubac Country Inn (orange roof) and the Tubac Trailer Tether (the rest of it continues quite a ways back and down the street) which Bruce’ brother Dennis owns. (Along with the laundromat and propane/camping areas)  The Arts Festival was fun, and we ate from there (instead of cooking) for the two days it was going. And then I got my usual souvenirs - T-shirts for Bruce and I, and some outdoor garden decorations. This year we got a tile table for the patio, a copper wall hanging of quail family, wind chimes and a covered Talavera butter dish. Usually I bring a planting pot home, but I have so many already.....(see posts here,  here and here).

Anyway, we are still sick and have been diagnosed with the 100-day virus. Bruce is still going to work, my cousin Carrie is on a 12-week FMLA leave for it (she works at a call center and has no voice!) and cousin Kim and I just have good and bad days. Mine are at home and hers are at work. This is a nasty bug, folks. Three months to go......

Anyway, let’s get on to some good stuff. Namely, sewing.

You may remember that I am doing two blocks per month through August for my Notting Hill Quilt.  One is the Sugar Block Club 2016 block of the month, which for February is a variation of the classic Log Cabin block.  Here is mine:

The second block I do every month is any interesting 12” block pattern I can decide on, and for this month my second block was Castles in the Air.

That brings me up to a total of 8 blocks now, and I need 20. So, it will be six more months of sewing 2 blocks per month. In August these will all be sashed and sewn together!

While in Tubac, I did do some sewing a couple times when I felt like it, and got the blocks pieced for my Birds and Bees quilt. Since I’ve been home, those are now sewn into rows and will be an official flimsy by tomorrow. These are just some sneak peaks, but I will show the quilt when it’s done.

Bright and happy colors. It has been so cheerful to work on!

Until next time,

A Valentine Quit Finish

Between sneezing my lungs out and sleeping from the cold meds I’m taking, I managed to finish my Valentine Quilt.  This is Goal #2 (and my second quilt finish of 2016) on my 2016 Quarter 1 Finish Along goals.

Everything I used in this quilt, which finished at about 62x62” is OLD stock from my stash, with the exception of the border fabric, which I purchased on sale from Fabric Depot at the end of the year.  I used a total of 8 yards in this quilt. The red heart fabrics, which form the spinners in front and comprise most of the back, was 54” cotton fabric. That was an oldie but a goodie. It also contained fabric from JoAnn and Makower.

Here’s the back. I kept cutting blocks until I ran out of fabric, then had to sew all the pieces back together in improv slabs. I used nearly every single bit. What a good feeling!  This quilt will be for us to use in the car during road trips, the first of which begins later this week. We are heading for the sunny blue skies of southern Arizona on our annual family visit to the Kizerian HQ (LOL) in Tubac, Arizona.

I have sewn up lots of brown blocks this month, too, as I work through my brown scrap stash for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Here is a sampling of some.

But as I will not be around to link up to their Saturday Scrap Party, I will save them for the next time. I have brown cats and kittens sewn, too, and all sorts of other goodies in the works.

Finally, I’m taking Bernadette (my Bernina 550QE sewing machine) on vacation with me, along with the Birds and Bees quilt I have cut out. I will return home with a pieced quilt top and lots more brown scrappy blocks.

See you on the flip side!