Done and Dusted

Done and dusted. That would be the perfect title for this week’s blogpost if my spring cleaning were done. It would be the perfect title if all my planned sewing and quilting projects for this month, or even just this week were done. But no. It’s the perfect title because after this busy week (especially yesterday), I am done and dusted. Tired. Spent. Exhausted. 

On Monday we ran 6 of our 8 “needs to happen this week” errands. Tuesday was yardwork day. The veggie garden is planted and so are all the flowers and flower pots. Wednesday was sewing day. Thursday was tackling Mt. Washmore, more errands, and more yardwork. Friday was grocery shopping and the installation of our new home security system. The guys who sold us our security plan (and those who installed it) were amazing. Heck, George was here long enough for the cats to warm up to him! So now we’re in the 21st century with smart home technology, cameras, alarms, detectors for fire and gas/carbon monoxide (already had those), sensors for water leaks, glass breakage, and more - all accessible from our panel or smart phones. And for a negligible amount over what we were paying before. But the process was a bit disruptive yesterday. I’m so glad it’s done (and dusted!)

BUT - that means I didn’t get accomplished what I thought I’d get done in the sewing room this week. All is not lost though as I do have things to share.  First up are the “chips" that I finished a week ago but didn’t share last week. I thought I was making 12 of each, but it turns out that my count was off, so there are 13 with white borders and 11 with black borders. 

Kim and I basted two flimsies on Wednesday, but I only got one quilted. It was this little red scrappy column quilt that I showed the beginnings of last week. It finished at 40x48” and made a nice dent in my red scraps.

The backing used up the last of this cute print I’ve had in my stash for about 3 years. Naturally, the quilt will go to Quilts for Kids. 

I also worked on the large half square triangles that I’m making into Disappearing Pinwheels. I thought I had enough to make 22 blocks and had planned to make a quilt using 20 blocks, with the 2 leftovers going into the Parts Department. But I counted again and realized I had enough to make 26 blocks (Are you sensing a pattern here with my counting ability?) so, I decided to make more than one quilt. 

This is where I am with the first quilt. It will consist of 12 blocks and be bordered with the red on all four sides (it’s just partially pinned now). The backing will be some of the denim blue chambray hanging to the right.

The remaining blue HSTs will wait for our Dark Blue month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. However, I’ll sew up and play with the remaining 8 red and white blocks this month. I’ll have to add some other blocks to bring them up to a good quilt size. Here is one partial possibility with string blocks. 

But I’ll have other blocks to consider adding, because I also sewed up six 6.5” crumb blocks and 13  4-patches. Stay tuned.

After resting up, I’m getting a late start today (Saturday). Today I’ll be cleaning the spare downstairs bedroom. I finally assembled my new Shark vacuum for use downstairs. We’ll use our regular old heavy monster vac for upstairs without the need to cart it up and down stairs. Plus, naturally, there will be laundry and sewing today. We hope to make plans for the coming week to visit a friend and enjoy the fruits of our last several weeks' of labor. Life is good. 

Linking to:  Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Oh Scrap!

Rainbow Progress and OMG Finish!

I originally meant to do the finish of All You Need is Love as a separate post (separate from my Rainbow Scrap progress for the week), but that plan fell by the wayside. I just spent too much time behind the sewing machine and not enough at the computer. Maybe that’s the way it should be, LOL.

Anyway, let’s start off with the finished quilt. All You Need is Love was inspired by the Art Gallery (Mathew Boudreaux) center panel print, which pays homage to the Beatles’ song. Last year when my daughter Megan was visiting for Christmas, we picked out a selection of fabrics (later fine-tuned and added to by moi), motifs and patterns, and discussed the general design idea. Then I stitched on this as the colors coincided with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge monthly color.

The quilt finished at 68x80” and includes lots of specialty quilting. You can see the texture on this picture of the backing.

This is the motif that Megan wanted on the corners. I just did some straight line echoing of the solid fabrics in their angled pieces, surrounded by stippling in the white areas.

Yes, some corners were hurt in the making of this quilt, but I just keep telling myself that if you can’t see it from a galloping horse......

And the best part was that Darla gave this quilt not just one, but TWO snugglability tests at different times on the same day. Here is Test #1.

Hmmmm..... yes, this quilt seems purrfectly snuggly to me....

Indeed, it’s fit for a Queen!!

I made a matching pillow for Megan from the leftovers of the All You Need is Love fabric, but you’ll just have to take my word for it. I did take pictures (probably with my phone), but can’t find them now. Both the quilt and pillow and assorted other Christmas presents were mailed off to Megan last Monday. She received them on Thursday and has sent me pictures of the quilt and pillow in the wild. She had just bought a lovely new couch for her living room, so it was the perfect opportunity to share it all together in situ.

This completes my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for December, and I’m linking up to Elm Street Quilts’ finish post. 

All You Need is Love was also my Goal #2 on my 4th Quarter Finish Along List, which you can see HERE.  With this finish, I’ve completed 7 out of 10 goals, which was what I had hoped to accomplish for the quarter. Maybe I’ll even have another finish before year end! HERE is the linky party for 4th qtr.

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Once I finished AYNILove, I began working on my selvage block quilts. I had made 149 selvage blocks (measuring 6.5”, unfinished) over the course of our Rainbow Scrap challenge this year. That turned out to be too many for one quilt..... or two quilts, even. So, I ended up dividing them into three separate (and slightly overlapping) color groups. 

First, I apologize for the bad pictures. Here is the flimsy of the gray-sashed blocks. The selvage block colors are gray/black, purple, red, brown and orange. This one has a more masculine feel, which was the intent. It measures 54 x 61.5”.  

Next is the dark blue, aqua and green version with slightly wider blue sashing. It’s in progress. It will measure 58x58” when finished.

Finally, this is planned for selvage quilt #3. It will include pinks, yellow, light blues, and light greens with pink sashing (exact fabric to be determined).  I’ll have this at least to flimsy stage by next week. I’m hoping to have at least two of the three quilted and finished by year end.

I’m linking up to Angela’s Scrappy Saturday and Cynthia’s Oh Scrap! on Sunday.  That is, if I can tear myself away from this year-end sewing frenzy!!  (wink)

Quilting to Plan and Planning to Quilt

Although I still don’t have a quilt finish to share, I’m getting closer. One Cousin Kim and I basted All You Need is Love on Wednesday, I began the quilting process on Thursday.

Here’s a picture of the top again so you will understand what I’m referencing.

The thread I’m using is a barely-there pale green cotton. It’s so pale that it looks almost white on the front.  So, on Thursday I started out by quilting the center panel with a basic stipple. 

Then I switched to a dark blue thread and quilted the navy border around the center panel with lines. They’re not visible, so I didn’t take a picture. And I quilted wavy lines in the dark floral borders in the top and bottom final border, also not visible. 

On Friday I tackled the yellow flying geese that surround the center panel. After searching for some simple ideas, I settled on this pattern. It was tricky to do because I didn’t want to wrestle with the quilt by continually changing directions and pulling its bulk around under the machine. So some of these motifs were stitched while I was looking at them upside down or sideways, although they all came out the same on the geese. My best motifs actually came out while I was stitching them upside down! I’ll thank you not to laugh at that.

After that, I tackled the next round, which consisted of the lollipop and friendship star motifs. By that time, simple was sounding real nice, so I just went with loops.

And here is how the front looks so far. I know, I know; it’s hard to see the quilting.

And here is the back. The thread matches the back wonderfully.

So, today I’ll continue. I think I’m just going to ignore the little checkerboard round since it’s only two inches. I’ll switch to pink thread and first go back to stitch in the solid pink border between the flying geese and the next round. Then I’ll tackle the pink hearts. 

My goal is to finish the quilting today so that I can trim it up and sew the bright pink binding together. Then I can bind, launder and photograph it on Sunday and get it packed and mailed on Monday. At least that’s the plan. 

I’m also participating in Bonnie Hunter’s Good Fortune Mystery Quilt-Along, and have the Clue 3 pieces to start on this week. And I’m trying to make a decision on what quilt to finish up next. Right now it’s a toss-up between turning all my selvage blocks into not one, but TWO finished quilts (and I’ve already pulled the sashing fabric) OR to start sewing together the Birds in the Lattice quilt blocks. There should be a third choice in there - a quilt that I need to start and finish before we go on vacation to Arizona in February. I’ll introduce that one in the next week or two....

Linking up to Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

and Cynthia’s Oh Scrap!

Oh Scrap! and OMG

The title of this blog post sounds like quilter’s cussing, doesn’t it? LOL. Actually, Oh Scrap and OMG (One Monthly Goal) are blog linky parties that I occasionally link up to (and would do so more often if I had anything share-worthy). 

First, let’s start with OMG. I didn’t make my November goal, which was to finish my daughter Megan’s All You Need is Love quilt. It’s going to be a Christmas present. I  had a slight issue with wonkiness - some of the measurements were off kilter. So that necessitated some un-sewing (that sounds better than ripping out, doesn’t it?) and re-sewing. But I got it done and progressed to the next and final round. But I didn’t finish. So, I’ve set the finish of this quilt as my December goal for OMG and I’m linking up to Patty’s monthly goal-setting party at Elm Street Quilts. 

This is where the quilt stands now. It’s a completed flimsy that is right on the measurements. The final row is flying geese windmill blocks on the sides and a colored stripe bordered by two plain white (Kona Snow) strips. The four cornerstones came from a block I had on one of my Pinterest boards. My daughter saw it and wanted it. It was designed by Amy Gibson for a now-discontinued Craftsy quilt. Anyway, you can see it HERE. I just drafted my own version of the cornerstone block.

Tomorrow I’ll sew up a backing and hopefully get it basted.  Then I’ve got all week to get it quilted Rather than quilting just one overall design (which would be fine by her as she’s not a quilter) I’m leaning toward doing some different but not too over-the-top designs. Stay tuned.

Today, which is a snowy and cold winter’s Sunday (and so nice with the fireplace going and the Christmas tree lit up), I’m also linking up to Cynthia Brunz’ Oh Scrap! linky at her inspirational blog Quilting is More Fun Than Housework. I have missed my regular scrap piecing and quilting in the mad rush of Thanksgiving through end-of-year holidays. I decided I needed to make a pencil case for my colored pencils. I’ve been using them a lot this year to draft several quilts, including the quilt above (All You Need is Love) and Lattice Birds, which I hope to get back to soon. But I digress....

So, I found the perfect scrap in my stash for the pencil case, and found a coordinating cheddar colored scrap to go with it:

But those are regular No. 2 pencils, not colored. I mean, it would still make a cute pencil case, and I still plan to make one (or two), but it led me to continue searching my scraps. 

I recently ordered two fat quarters from Spoonflower when they had a Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale on their fat quarters. I knew that my favorite fabric designer, Tamara Kate, has an account there with lots of designs available for purchase. What I didn’t know (until I was checking out with my purchase) was that I had Spoonflower credits on my account. So my total cost for 2 fat quarters plus postage was $1.25. Can’t beat that!

This first fat quarter will make a darling colored pencil case! And probably with enough left over to do some fun fussy cutting. The second fat quarter is just FUN. What I’m going to do with it is still a mystery. But the cats like it and I’m a Pisces so it works for me!

Dancing in September

I was dancing yesterday in my studio (luckily my kids weren’t around to make fun of me. But back in the day, I really could dance!). The sun was shining in the windows and I had just finished piecing the Bowties quilt top. Earth, Wind and Fire was providing the music, and the song of the hour was September.

So, here’s what the dancing was about.  Bow Ties is a completed top (!!) of 288 single blocks set 16x18. Oddly, instead of measuring 64x72, it measures 65x73. I guess that’s what scant quarter inch seams do. Isn’t it cheerful?

Bowties will get basted and quilted in October. In fact, that is my OMG - One Monthly Goal - for October. I've linked up to Patty’s October goal-setting post.

And there was a lot of Rainbow Scrap Challenge sewing this week in order to finish up my darker blue scraps. First, there were the crumb blocks; 14 of them at 6.5”.

I was able to sew 19 of the Irish Chain blocks that I’ll need as the alternate blocks in my Birds in the Lattice Quilt. I already had 4, so that brings my total to 23 completed of the 32 needed. I will be able to finish up the last 9 this weekend. I put them up on the design board to get a feel for how it’s coming together. (Edited Sept 30th to add: 9 final blocks done!)

The sample layout above shows a 5x5 setting of the 10” blocks. When complete, it will actually be 7x9 for a total of 63 blocks (32 lattice, 31 birds). There will also be a border around it of the featured dark blue floral print fabric. I love the rich, saturated colors!

I’ve decided that it won’t be made into a queen-sized bed quilt as I’d have to piece more blocks than the current plan calls for. I have enough fabric, but I’m not crazy about the idea of a mostly-white bed quilt or the fact that another expansion would prolong the construction by a couple months (at least) given the upcoming holiday season. So, it will finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 78x98” with the border.

And here’s my scrappy tally for Blue September:

Top, L-R:
18  Selvage blocks, 6.5”
  3  Selvage blocks, 4.5”
  7  Birds, 10.5”
  2  Squared Away blocks, 10.5”
Bottom, L-R:
14  Crumb blocks, 6.5”
  3  Lollipop blocks, 6.5”
  1  Friendship Star, 6.5”
20  Quarter Log Cabin blocks, 6.5”
Not Shown:
28  Irish Chain/Lattice blocks, 10.5”

Total:  96 blocks

I also completed three quilts in September:

Top Left:  Safari Baby Quilt, 46.5x55"
Bottom Left:  Orange Lozenges, 62x72"
Right: Linked Squares, 64x80"

All in all, it was a good month.  I’m linking up to Angela’s blog for Rainbow Scrap Saturday, and Cynthia’s blog for Oh Scrap!

Sewing O’ the Green

I did get a lot of sewing done in the early part of the week with my green scraps. And I’m sharing some of them in this post. Others I'll save for next week. Today I’m exhausted. It’s been an emotionally charged and draining week. A roller coaster. But life is like that sometimes, and sewing sure helps to even things out for me. Sewing and quilting melt away stress, sadness, anger, even boredom. Does it do that for you? And I find if I add music (current playlist is Ed Sheeran and Mary Chapin Carpenter), time just floats happily by.

And so I’m cheerfully and green-fully linking up to Angela’s Scrappy Saturday party.

First up are the Squared Away blocks for March. They’re this month’s installment of our Rainbow Scrap Sampler for this year.  I love the left one. The right one, not so much because of the fabric I chose. They are 10-inch blocks.

And then I did about eleven selvage squares measuring 6.5”, unfinished. Because I have very few dark green scraps, especially selvage scraps, I decided to mix all the greens for these blocks instead of focusing on just the medium to light ranges.

Next up was a Geese Migration block, a lovely pattern by Cynthia Brunz (of Quilting is more Fun than Housework). You can find her free pattern HERE. It’s a great stash buster.

And this weekend I’m joining in on Cynthia’s Oh Scrap! linkup. There are many of us currently working (or who have already finished) her Geese Migration pattern. These are only some of my blocks, and they’re on my design board with the fabric I’ll be using for the background and sashing.

The gray fabric is a lovely cotton called Linen Look by MakowerUK. It has a wonderful, rich color and drape. And I believe it shows off the colors to good advantage. Now there are probably some of you eagle-eyed stitchers who have noticed that my blocks are not all stitched with the same orientation. The yellow and pink blocks (and even the yellow and pink ones that aren’t shown) all have the geese on the left, while the rest have the geese correctly on the right. So, all I can say is ..... do all geese fly in the same identical formation every time? And if they do, then Oh.Well. I’m not changing them. :-)

I haven’t decided if these will be set on point, as shown in Cynthia’s pattern, or if they will be set like shown above. To date, I’ve never done an on-point setting (there! I admitted it!), but this quilt’s finish and Bonnie Hunter’s Ringo Lake pattern (I’m still sewing those blocks together) both call for on point. We shall see.....

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The rest of this post is pretty much for the birds...... my Lattice Birds quilt. I need to come up with a better name. Suggestions welcomed at any time!

This was the bird I made last week:

 And then I added three more:

And THEN I combined them with the blue members of their flock, as well as the inspiration fabric by Tamara Kate that will become a border, backing (and parts of blue birds).

Oh my, I am really loving this. When we get to blue again, there will be at least two more blue birds, maybe more. Blue and green will be the primary colors of the quilt, but we will also see some other colors. I added some pulled fabrics for those future birds in the picture below.

Oh, yes please! The birds will be flying all over the quilt on a Kona White background. Between the birds I’ll have a dark royal blue lattice made of single Irish Chain blocks. I plan to do those when we get to the dark blue month. I hope it turns out as nice as my drawn plans!

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Tonight we’re going to cap off the week by seeing the WellRED Comedy Act (The Liberal Rednecks) in Salt Lake City. Have you heard of them? Funny as heck, intellectual, but rather rough language. Bruce and I have tickets with Cousin Kim, Cousin Carrie (Kim’s sister) and Carrie’s adult daughter Jenny. It’s a dinner show.  And I’m looking forward to laughing a lot.

New Month, New OMG - A Monthly Goal for March

The new months means it’s time to set and declare my new March goal for One Monthly Goal (OMG) over at Elm Street Quilts. This is such a great way to motivate us quilters to finish things up and not them nag us linger forever. Not that any of us do that.

This month I chose a goal that will help me not only accomplish something nice for donation, but also clear a bit of space in my sewing room.

What is that mess, you ask? It’s a pile of soon-to-be sewn kennel quilts. Last year I donated  85 kennel quilts and doggie beds (stuffed with tiny scraps and batting bits) to our local Best Friends (no-kill) Pet Shelter. It’s a particular favorite place for Alfie and Darla, because that is where we found them over 4 years ago. Although I’m doing other charity projects this year, I still want to finish up these remainders that are waiting to be finished.

In February, I went through my cat and dog themed fabrics, blocks in the Parts Department and/or leftovers from other projects. I sewed up scraps into tops and matched them to backings. Next, I frankenpieced batting scraps to match up. Some of the fabric was donated by generous people or stores, and I have worked hard over the months to pare that down. They all need to be trimmed to sizes, but all the parts are there, ready to be sewn.

My goal for March is to finish up 10 of these quilts. I have eleven of them to do, but just in case something goes wrong, I’m just going to say 10. Keep in mind that these are small quilts, roughly placemat size. They range from about 12x18” on the small side, up to about 20x24” on the large side. They are not bound in the traditional sense, because bindings can come loose (think of a chewing pet....). Instead they are sewn with top and backing right sides together, with batting in-between, then stitched closed and quilted. Once I get an assembly line going, I can do these easily in a few hours.

And since this also uses up lots of old scraps and parts, I’m linking up to Oh Scrap! with Cynthia Brunz.

Sewing a Blue Streak

While the snow is gently falling outside (may I say.... FINALLY!!!), I’ve gathered up my sewing progress pictures for the week and am ready to blog! My supervisor Darla is deftly pacing back and forth here in front of the big computer screen, raising an occasional paw to catch  the cursor. When she tires of it, she will perch on the back of the chair to read over my shoulder. I’m so lucky to have such great support!

Starry, Starry Day is now a completed quilt. YAY!!  

It finished at 72x78”. The batting is Warm and Plush cotton, and the quilting is just simple wavy lines. I did wash it before photographing. I just love how it has a lit-from-within look radiating out from the yellow center.

The binding was a simple orange and white print, and the backing was pieced from random fat quarters and pieces that have aged well (and too long) in my stash. This was a Rainbow Scrap project from 2017 and is my first finish of this year.

I will be sharing this finish and post with Rainbow Scrap Saturday, Oh Scrap!, OMG - One Monthly Goal, and the 2018 Finish Along as the link-ups come online.

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Once Starry, Starry Day was done, it was back to sewing blue scraps.  I made two blocks for the 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler, Squared Away. 

The next block is the beginning of a new quilt for me, and it will combine two blocks; the birds  plus an Irish Chain block. Irish Chains have been on my bucket list for a long time, and I will start off with a single chain in this quilt to create a lattice effect. The background of the quilt is Kona White, and the lattice will be Kona Ocean, the deep blue in the fabric of the body of the bird.

In fact, it is that fabric that I fell in love with. I ordered yards and yards of it last spring to be the inspiration for this quilt. It’s called Maggie Jean and is from the Frolic line by one of my very favorite fabric designers, Tamara Kate. The birds will all be made in coordinating rich blues, greens, pinks, and warm orange-yellows. I found a free bird pattern at Quilting Support, and also ordered the Feathers pattern from The Scrap Basket. I looked at both, but used neither. The Feathers pattern was poorly written and made an 8” finished block. The Quilting Support pattern made a 12” finished block. I needed a 10” block to work with the 10” Irish Chain alternate block, so I drafted my own in a similar style. Half the birds will face right, the other half left. I will show more detail as I complete more birds and chain blocks.  This quilt will definitely be for me. I originally drafted my pattern to be 50x70” plus borders (probably 60x80”), but I may go larger and turn it into a queen bed size. Time will tell.

And then all my blue scraps got sewn into these 12 miscellaneous 6.5” (unfinished) blocks; three nine-patches, one block of half-square triangles, and the others being crumb blocks. They will join all the other 6.5” blocks in the Parts Departments for eventual inclusion into either kennel quilts, baby quilts or who knows what....

And next up on the design board is Hot Rods, a quilt for my brother Steve. The fabrics are all here and I am playing around with them and letting ideas percolate. Lots of accent colors are being auditioned. The larger motifs have been cut up and will be trimmed and framed. This one is going to have to lead me instead of me leading it. 

The only part I am not enjoying is that my dear brother is hovering too much and weighing in on every.little.thing. I know he’s excited, but geez. I know what I’m doing (for the most part, LOL). Anyway, this project may end up going on vacation with me next month just so I can think in peace. 

Speaking of thinking, I think that wraps it up for this past week. Oh! Just one more thing. I often get questions from No-Reply bloggers. Often I am slow to reply, but I do get there. So if you don’t hear back from me, it’s because I have no way to contact you. So be sure to either include your email address in your comment, or update your account. Bonnie Hunter has full information on how to correct your No Reply status HERE.