Two Flimsies and Some Dark Blocks

Ok, don’t tell me. You want to see the flimsies first. I know I would want to if that was what you posted on YOUR blog. So without further ado, here they are. (For the uninitiated, a flimsy is just a quilt top before it is sandwiched with batting, backing and quilted). 

This is my Rainbow Selvages quilt top. It was originally going to contain just 14 columns, but I added the brown column, extreme left, after adding the planned black and white (polka dot) column on the right. It measures 60x72”.  I like this so much more now that the top is complete. The texture is so much fun!  I have a couple choices for a backing, but have made no decisions yet on that or the binding. I think a fun scrappy binding might be the ticket if I have enough leftovers. Must go stash-diving!

The second flimsy is my autumn farm girl type sampler. Please excuse the distracting blue low-tack tape holding it up (in addition to pins); it is too large for my design board.  I probably should have just let it hang, but it makes it look wonky. 

I am pretty amazed at how this turned out. You see, some of the original blocks were made 3 (or was it 4?) years ago during the Vintage Farm Girl Quilt-Along. I was learning as I went, and the block sizes ranged from 12 1/8"  to 12 3/4”. They were supposed to be 12 1/2” unfinished. So first, some blocks had to be added to and of course everything trimmed. There went some points. And the 1” sashing didn’t leave much wiggle room. But it got done, slowly, imperfectly. Not a competition-level quilt by any means, but not bad.

Then, since I wanted the leaf fabric of the outer border, of which I only had one yard, to orient with the leaves falling down, the cutting was a challenge. That’s why there are cornerstones - there was not enough fabric without them! And then, when it was all sewn up, I measured the top. And nearly fell over. And measured again. The width at the top and bottom were exactly - EXACTLY - the same. Not an eighth of an inch difference! The length at the two sides had a 1/8" difference, which I don’t even care about. How the heck did THAT happen??? Anyway, if it looks wonky now, get over it. It isn’t!  YAY!!!

My plans are to get these two tops basted this weekend and maybe even quilt one. They are both on my Finish-Along Quarter 4 list, so they will get done before the end of the year!

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I want to thank you all for your thoughtful comments on my post last week about gathering and saving ideas for quilting projects (for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and quilting in general). And there were many great ideas and comments about scrap and fabric storage, settings, and organization. Thank you all so much!  And be sure to check out the rainbow lineup over at Angela’s So Scrappy blog. It’s Scrappy Saturday, and there are always great ideas and eye candy over there!

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By early in the week, I was digging into my scraps. Since Dark Neutrals (gray, black, brown) are the color of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I sorted all the colors and decided to play with the browns first.

First I made twelve 4.5” (unfinished) bow tie blocks. This brings me to 214 made of 304 needed. I’ll probably do a few dark gray and black ones, but these will carry over into next year.

And then I whipped out the brown strings and made four 8.5” string blocks and sewed them together.  

In fact, I sewed all my string blocks together into foursomes (like above) and took an inventory. It appears I have 12 more 8.5” string blocks to make: 2 orange (to finish up an orange foursome), 2 blue (to finish up a blue foursome) , then two more foursomes out of any of either red, green or purple, depending on what the scraps dictate. It would be quick work to finish this by year-end if I didn’t have so much ahead of it in line. But I may get to it by the end of the year. If not, it will finish up in the first quarter of 2018.

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And how fun is this??  Bruce had the day off Friday and we went grocery shopping together. I spotted these Lehi Roller Mills (a local Utah mill and bakery that makes great breads and mixes, etc) items on an end display at our local (Harmon’s) grocery store. What caught my attention? They are all in sacks of Lori Holt Vintage Christmas fabric! Lori, of course, is a local sew-lebrity fabric designer (for Riley Blake fabrics, also a Utah company). So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the collaboration. 

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Finally, I asked last week if any of you were participating in the Bonnie Hunter annual Mystery Quilt-Along, On Ringo Lake. It appears that several of us are!  Here is my fabric pull. I decided to go with grays instead of the browns that Bonnie suggested, mainly because I have grays. I could’ve gone out and bought some chocolate brown, but I’d rather use my stash. The grays look good with the colors, and it will all look better in our newly-remodeled living room.

Have a great week, and stay warm!

Quarter Three Finish Along Goals

Hi! I’ve been so busy for the past two weeks, I sometimes don’t know if I’m coming or going.
I will share some pictures below, but first I want to list my goals for the 3rd Quarter Finish Along. The Finish-Along is hosted by several lovely ladies who work their tails off to coordinate our goals with our finishes, hosting link-ups and gathering prizes from so many fantastic sponsors. If you have never looked into this, try the linky in my sidebar or go HERE to see the 3rd Quarter Goals of the many participants.

Without further ado, here are my goals:

1.  Shane’s Magic Carpet.
You’ve seen it in my goals before, but hopefully this will be the last time before I finish it. I intend to work more on finishing quilts this quarter rather than starting any more.

2. Notting Hill Quilt.
This project has always been to add 2 blocks per month to what I had at the beginning of the year. I have sixteen completed and plan to do 2 in July and 2 in August. It then just needs to be sashed, quilted, bound.

3.  Aria Quilt.
The blocks and rows are all sewn, and about half of them are sewn together. A good hour would allow me to finish this top. I will have to piece a border and backing with all the leftover fabrics. I plan to send this ASAP to a professional quilter because it will be a queen bed-sized. If I hurry, I can get it back by the end of the quarter.

4. and 5.  Cat Quilts.
I have 8 litters made. Each litter is a 24x24” square consisting of a 12” mama cat in the middle surrounded by twelve 6” kittens. The litters will be set 2x3 with sashing and should finish about 54x74”.  The two quilts will have some different colors, so when I finish, you’ll be able to see that they are actually two separate quilts. I have some cute cat fabric to back both of them. They’ll be Christmas presents for the 2 granddaughters who are cat crazy like their grandma.

6. Farm Girl Quilt.
This one has been on and off my lists for a year. I have enough blocks to finish the quilt in a 7x7 setting. (By the way, see the new watermelon block? I just made that at the Farm Girl Retreat last wee - more about that below).

The problem here is that I was really a beginner last year when I started these. Yes, I had been quilting for 2.5 years at the time, but I had never learned the finer points of flying geese, measuring 1/4” seams, etc.  The blocks range from 12” to 12.5” finished, in various eighth-inch increments.  I hope I’m up to the challenge of fudging on the sashing to make up the differences. And I think cornerstones would accentuate the issue, so those are out for sure. We will see how it goes. Needless to say, I am much more careful on getting my blocks more accurate. It’s a continual challenge...

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Last week we had another Farm Girl Retreat at Thimbles and Threads with Lori Holt. This was called our Instagram Farm Girl Retreat  (#igfarmgirlvintageretreat) because we were there to greet our friend Cathy (Tazzie) Purdon from New Zealand, who is visiting the USA for 5 weeks. So the whole IG group of friends was there, as well as some of Lori’s “peeps” - her personal group of crazy and delightful friends. There were 22 of us, including teacher Lori and guest of honor Cathy.

At the retreat, Lori introduced four new blocks (coming soon) and her Farm Fresh Quilt Pattern (now available at the Fat Quarter Shop). It was pure craziness and laughter with all these women. Beth B (@kitqueen) made everyone their own IG block. Isn’t it cute? She has the most infectious laugh! And several other ladies, including Lori, passed out gifts for everyone.

Here is Lori and Cathy P just as they were presented with the USA Flag Blocks that each of us made for them. They will each have enough (signed) quilt blocks to make their own quilt.

Lori Holt and Cathy Purdon

L-R: Cathy K, Betty, Kristie, Rae Anne, Suzanne

Joanna Cotton and me

Can you believe this amazing dress (below) that Cynthia Horst (@dreamquiltcreate) made for herself from selvages?!?

I met some incredible ladies and had a blast. Yes, I did feel totally out of my league, but as always, I learned a lot and made new friends. It was wonderful, and I was certainly humbled to have been invited.

Finally, apricot season is here. If hubby and I are not out picking apricots (and cleaning up our and our neighbor’s yards from them), we are dehydrating them or I’m making jam or freezing quart after quart..... It looks like an apricot tornado in my kitchen. And did I mention that my daughter Megan is visiting from Seattle this week??

And then there are the contractors. Today they measured for new sliding shutters for our sliding glass doors. The rain gutter/soffit contractors will be here Tuesday to do their repairs and install heat tapes. DH has just about finished making the new porch pillar bases (they are 3/4 installed), so I will be painting the pillars next week. And I have a month to paint the kitchen (and get someone in to paint its ceiling). The shutters arrive 3rd week of August, as does the custom light fixture we are having made from a woodworker on Etsy. Once the kitchen is done, the living room demolition will start. And somewhere in there will be vegetables to harvest with grapes following after that.

At least I’m not bored!!

Looking Through Rose-Colored Glasses, er..... Drawers

July is here and the new color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is PINK. Angela and Vickie put the emphasis on hot pink with lime accents. Of course, we don’t discriminate against any pinks, so all are welcome. And I’ll keep most of the lime accents for my margaritas, LOL.

So, since July is all of a day old, I haven’t done much sewing-wise. But, I have searched through all my drawers and piles and stacks, etc., to gather up anything that remotely thinks it’s pink. And I have even begun cutting out cats and kittens so certain feline members of my household will not nag me.

And take a look at the pile of pink sheets below I have to work with. The three at the top of the picture are uncut top and bottom sheets. And they may stay that way for quilt backings or for sale in my Etsy shop, because look at all the other scraps I have without them. I will be making my usual 9.5” rail fence blocks with these scraps. But how many can I make? I`ll probably stop around 15-18 and then cut the remainders into 6” blocks for a future quilt.

And look at how fun some of these are! See the one with the lime accents? I used that as a backing on a small quilt I made last year for my cousin Emma.

I will be going to Missouri again this year (In September) and hope to swing by and visit Emma, Aunt Maria and my Uncle Bela. Uncle Bela is 97 and very sharp of mind. He also still walks unassisted, cooks elaborate Hungarian meals, attends church regularly and knows exactly what is going on in the family and the world. He’s the last of his generation (my parents’ generation) left in our family, and he is totally amazing.

But first I will be attending a local quilting retreat where Lori Holt will be the teacher. The event is private, and there will be about 20 of us there to welcome our IG friend Cathy “Tazzie” Purdon to the USA. We’re all having lunch together on Tuesday, then a trunk show by Lori on Wednesday evening. The Farm Girl retreat itself will be all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So I won’t have anything to report to RSC until Sunday, if I’m lucky. Anyway, I`m in mad preparation for the retreat....

Above: laid out piles of scrappy fabrics (minus the pinks; I need to get my RSC sampler pieces, cats and Dresden fans cut out first). And my poor Aria quilt on the design board is once again tabled.....

I`m also going to make a single block of this flag pattern for a purpose I can`t talk about yet. But that should only take a half hour.....

And if all that isn’t enough, the apricot tree is s-l-o-w-l-y ripening and going to want picking beginning in a few days. I checked it this morning and the only fully ripe branch is a high vertical one that hubs had talked about cutting back. My guess is he is going to want to do it tomorrow or Monday (his days off) so we can use the salvageable fruit. We lost 2 largish branches last week due to breakage from weight, so all the rest are propped up. So, the color of the month may be pink, but the fruit of the month is apricot.

I’m linking up to Angela at So Scrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday. Come visit!

Happy New Year 2016 and 2015 Recap

Happy New Year to you!  I want to extend my thanks and gratitude to my friends and readers for following me here or in our personal off-line lives. Staying connected is, to me, an important part of life, and the older I get the more I know and appreciate that. I wish you all a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year 2016 from the bottom of my heart.

2015 was, for me, a good, happy and productive year.  Creatively speaking, I was primarily a crazy quilter (crazy quilting; the art form that arose in Victorian times whereby women pieced together fancy fabrics in random patchwork and then embellished it with stitching, beads, etc) for the last 15 years. Crazy quilting is very time consuming (but enjoyable!). It takes a lot of time just to do one block. And while I did do embroidery and crazy quilting this year, my main focus was on traditional quilting. It is refreshing to have finishes come along more often!  

So, here is a pictorial of my finishes this year with minimum commentary. 

Quilt for son Shane

Birch Trees Quilt for DGS Easton

Pow Wow Quilt for DH Bruce

2-layer skirt for DGD London

Here I must insert a picture of Lori Holt, the quilt world’s own Farm Girl herself. I was lucky enough to attend one of her retreats in June.

Lori Holt

2015 was the Year of the Farm Girl in the quilting world, and although my Farm Girl Quilt is not yet assembled, I do have 49 blocks (of 49) completed. I still need to do our pillow shams and then shuffle around and decide on placement. The Farmhouse block, below, represents that huge effort. Watch for my Farm Girl Quilt and matching pillow shams to be completed in the 1st quarter of 2016

Farmhouse block

What Cancer Cannot Do Quilt for Cal

Pink and Green Patchwork Quilt for Emma

Several times during the summer, my dear granddaughter Lauren came to spend the day and we sewed. I have shown pictures of tote bags, zip pouches, etc, that we made during those fun times. But the Piece de Resistance of our combined efforts was this lovely school backpack that Lauren completed just before school started. I am so proud of her!

Lauren and her backpack

The one crazy quilt I finally finished this year was started in 2012. There will be more about this quilt in February after it is published.  I list it here just for a minor reference.  :-)  I also have another CQ finish which is not shown, but will also be in that magazine. Again, more in February.

The Black Needlepoint Crazy Quilt

Farm Girl Cozy Cottage Pillow

Four scrappy pincushions for Christmas presents

Two sets of clothes and quilted play mats for granddaughters

20-21 zip pouches for Christmas gifts (only a few shown here)

17 pillowcases for gifts. Again, only some shown. 

Lighted Christmas Tree Wall Hanging

Rainbow Orbs Quilt, Shams and bedskirt

Rainbow Orbs is, by far, my favorite finish of 2015. Its bright, in-your-face colors bring me joy every time I look at it.  The cats approve, too.

I Spy Quilt

Helen’s Garden Quilt

That pretty much sums up my creative year. What fun it was! And today, New Year’s Day, I will begin straight away on 2016 projects.

Hugs,

Finished Zippy Pouches - Do they Multiply in the Dark?

I have been sewing merrily away on Christmas gifts over the last couple weeks. After completing lots of pouches (I lost count because some have already been gifted or used for other things) I thought I should probably snap a picture or two and declare this goal for my 4th Quarter Finish-Along Challenge completed. Item number 6 on that list was to finish six zip pouches (in addition to the three pictured in that list).

So here (above) are a dozen pouches that have been constructed so far. This does not include the ones I used for gifts already or those that are in progress (another six or so).

My son Shane is an artist who likes to paint cityscapes. I thought this fabric was plenty masculine and so constructed a long pouch for him to carry supplies in. Most of the pouches  will be stocking stuffers and will likely have other small gifts tucked inside.

Two of my daughters are getting these sweet pieced pouches of Lori Holt fabrics (Modern Minis). I love the sentiments on them!!

We have baseball fans and hunters and all sorts of other interests within the men and boys of the family, so all interests were covered. If nothing else, I’ll tell them these make great storage cases for cords and rechargers for tech gear when traveling. In addition to the pouches, I have sewn six individual pillowcases for grandkids. Next up I will start on the pairs of pillowcases for the couples. I started these on a whim to use up fabric (I’ll talk about that in a minute) and they are not on my goal list.

So, the zippy pouches become the 4th finish (of 10 goals) for this quarter. My Rainbow Orbs quilt has been backed and basted and I hope to begin quilting it this week.  It is looking as though that will become finish #5 when it happens.

I have decided to go on a “Fabric Diet” for a few months (with the exception of end-of-year sales where I plan to pick up on some solids for backgrounds).  So far in November, I bought two quarter yards of special interest fabrics to finish four pouches. (+1/2 yard), but have already used 9.5 yards in fabric for the gifts and 6 yards to back Rainbow Orbs. I will do a full accounting of my fabric ins and outs at month-end.

Finally, I am listing some older fabrics in my Etsy shop. No, I will not be counting those listings/sales in my Fabric Diet. They were selected for listing weeks (if not months) ago, and I am finally just getting around to doing it.

I will be back later in the week with a post about my bright green blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge November color of the month, and a progress report on the Rainbow Orbs quilt itself.

Enjoy the lovely autumn!

Farm Girl Vintage Retreat and Blocks

I had a blast last week attending a sewing retreat hosted by Thimbles and Threads (a local quilt shop) featuring Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet.  Lori is a local fabric celebrity and designer for Riley Blake Fabrics. Her new line, Modern Minis is to die for! And since I am participating in the Farm Girl Fridays sew-along, this was a great chance to meet ladies who came to Utah to participate.  What a blast!

But let me backtrack a few moments and get caught up with other things. This will be a picture-heavy post.

I am lucky that I get to have my granddaughter Lauren every other Monday throughout the summer. She loves to sew and has been sewing for about a year, since I gave her a sewing machine for her birthday in April of 2014.  Last week when she was here, she made herself a tote bag out of this cute pink guitar fabric I surprised her with. She is taking lessons from her granddad (my ex-hub, Scott) and the bag will be useful to carry her music in.

Lauren and I also made zip pouches from a tutorial we watched from Missouri Star Quilt Company. They turned out so cute. Hers has the red stripe and mine is the pink horsey Tula Pink fabric. It is the perfect size to carry my travel iron in!

sorry for the blur.....

Another fun thing for me was that I was able to acquire, quite unexpectedly and rather inexpensively, a complete set of Pyrex Cinderella bowls in the Gooseberries pattern. They are highly sought after by collectors and are over 50 years old. Pristine condition!

Next up are the two blocks I created for week 8 of the Farm Girl Fridays quilt-along.

Farmhouse

Farm Fresh Flower

So, on Wednesday evening, the Retreat began with Lori Holt giving us a trunk show of dozens of her recent quilts. She is unbelievably talented and prolific. The majority of the attendees of this, the 3rd and final weekly retreat, was mostly locals (as the hotel space was limited due to the Utah Arts Festival). But we did meet about a dozen fun ladies from other parts of the country, too!

Here my new friends Betty and Rae Ann introduce their long-time friend and quilty peep, Lori Holt.  

Interestingly, for both Lori and me, was that I brought pictures from 1976 in California when Scott (Flox, my ex-hub) and I were newly married and joining the LDS (Mormon) church. One of our missionary teachers (and the elder who baptized me) was Kelly Holt who lived in Riverton, UT.  I asked Lori if they were related, and she said Kelly was her (late) brother-in-law. I showed her pictures of Kelly from 1976 and the cake he baked (complete with taper candle stabbed through the center to hold the layers upright, LOL). We had a hug and took pictures so she could show her hubby and parents-in-law.  It was really quite a heartwarming moment. I am just so sad I waited too long to look him up....

Apple Quilt

Farmhouses and Trees

Large Farm Girl Sampler

Lori kept us busy with new block designs, as well as all sorts of inspiration, tips and tutorials.  Below is Penny Pig and a new apple block. 

Penny Pig and apple

Lori always sews on her featherweight. So cute!

We also learned how to use many of her blocks together in “mash-ups”. We learned and made two new tulip patterns and combined her Crops (leaves) blocks with other flower blocks to make wall hangings or table runners. Mine just needs to be (pressed, then) quilted and bound!

Table runner

Below is  (right) a postage-stamp 6” block inserted into a 12” star block. The block on the right is my Feed and Seed block for this week’s Farm Girl stitch along.

Fresh Pears block for this week’s stitch along

Two of the ladies that I hung out with were from my home state of California.  Erica is pictured below with a huge tractor block she made one night. Several of the ladies stayed up until the wee hours sewing!  Erica came with her friend Joanne, who was also a delight and an amazing sewist. But I did not get a pic of Joanne (sad face).

Some of Lori Holt’s pincushions

My pig pincushion poses with Penny Pig

My friend Wannell  shows the cute patchwork top she made for her watering can pin cushion. Wannell joined Erica, Joanne and me for lunch together every day.

So, wow, is that enough cuteness for you????  Whew! It makes me tired just looking at it all. But it was a great week; fun, productive and hot as hell (over 100 degrees F every day). 

This week I am working away at my scraps for June’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge (light blue) so that I can begin working on July’s color, RED!!    Have a lovely holiday weekend and a Happy Independence Day!