Another UFO finish

 Three years ago in the beginning  of 2022, I enjoyed the Stay at Home Round Robin sponsored by Quilting Gail. It is nice to have challenges.  My center was created from wool and bead applique and the colors were from several collections of Coriander Quilts.  I love the warm pastels Corey Yoder has utilized in her quilts. The first row was curves where I appliqued using my own templates with starch. The second was triangles and I put it on point. The third row was friendship stars. I did not add the last 3 rows.

It sat in a pile until this year when I have taken several different sessions for quilting it.  Different methods for quilting included free motion around the wool shapes as well as small stippling in the background of that square. I also used straight line quilting with a walking foot  around the friendship stars, and lastly I used a hera marker to "draw" lines for the triangles.  

A great quilt for trying out new techniques.   Yeah another UFO:  DONE!  It is about 3 feet square!

Machine quilting

 I really like to send my quilts out for others to do the wonderful quilting. And that is my go to for the larger quilts. Quilting by check book, so they say.   And I prefer my hand work to be applique or cross stitch or embroidery. So no hand quilting here, although I have tried it and like it. 

But several smaller tops have been waiting for my to finish by machine.  And I was even supposed to enter one in the recent guild show that had been started. I can do straight line stitch in the ditch, I even have a great stipple that I can do large or small. A set of quilting templates have been sitting unused.   Excuses, excuses. 

So I got the guild show one out and have been working on it several evenings. 

So here are a few progress photos:  free motion tiny stippling around the wool applique.

I                                                     like how that turned out. 

Straight line quilting in the blocks with a walking foot.

I just wish I had a BSR to keep the stitches an even length. 

Progress so far.  And I have a couple plans in place for a few of the other areas.

This is my stay at home round robin from a couple years ago. 

Sunday, we had the coolest rain while it was sunny.  And I got a short little video. But it would not transfer to my computer. 

But here is the double rainbow in the other direction.  

God is good!

Lots more binding and UFOs

 I spent half of one football game and all of the second NFL division playoffs putting on the binding of my snowmen quilt...plus one side of the rod pocket.  

I have yet to add all the eyes and some embroidery details.  I have discovered it will need some  machine quilting in the large motifs.  It shouldn't be too hard.

Additionally I have layered  50 inch wall hanging to quilt.  I needed to do it, before we begin cat sitting for my daughter. This is a UFO from 2 years ago. It was a Stay at Home Round Robin challenge by Quilting Gail and a number of other ladies. I am debating putting small dresden fans in the corners. HMMMM?  Suggestions??

And then as Valentines Day is approaching, I recalled another UFO sitting on my pile.  

So I pulled it out to see where it stands.  This was an exchange with a group of wool quilters.

There were 6 of us and each month we passed around our boxes for each to add something to it. 

Here is where it stood and below are the 2 hearts I will finish with embellishments. 

And I created 2 labels for my newly finished  and almost finished quilts. 

Round robin and more

 So I did finish my first round before Monday even.   But then my colors were a little unbalanced for me and some of the spools were crooked, meaning facing the wrong way. so I took off 2 sides and resewed them.  Fun right?

I did plan my row for the star round.  And I decided to add star points to make the overall quilt look like a sawtooth star with extra points.

It is now evening and I probably won't finish it tonight. 

So here is the statis: 

I have done sewing all week like a mad hen.  The progress is to say that ALL of my ocean waves blocks are done and it makes me SO happy.   I started putting them together even.  Much easier than I had thought it would be.  Yes!  

Short goals finishing

 I did indeed finish the first round of my Round Robin completing all 20 of the little spool blocks. I will have to confess that I do not like flipped corners. They look great, are easy to make.  But matching up the diagonal seams is difficult no matter how precise I make them. The size is now at 21 inches square.

My favorite handwork finish is a little pillow made from some cross stitch I have been working on. Yeah for a Valentine project.  2 and a half inches by 8 inches. 

More 9 patch blocks  totally 7 blocks.

And more ocean wave blocks. 41 completed blocks.  18 without  the large corners.  and 7 more to assemble.   Lots of progress. But I need to get the top together in 2 weeks.

Stitching and stitching

 I am enjoying the methodical stitching on the machine each day.  And while I seem to slowly accumulate blocks, I don't get to the computer to talk about it. 

Something I am really like creating are my Sewcialites 2 blocks.  I have really liked using Christmas colors and made several blocks this week.  I am almost caught up with the block a week release by Fat Quarter Shop. And I keep looking for larger pieces of fabrics for the setting.  Although I won't be putting it together until this summer. 

And I am churning out my Ocean Waves blocks.  I am down to the last 2 weeks of my schedule to finish the blocks which will total 64.  My goal to finish it for our quilt show at the end of March.  I already have a reservation to have it quilted by my friend. She took some pictures of my blocks I had taken to guild for planning her exquisite work.

I bought some more off white wool for my snowmen and am getting a little done per week   Total 9 sections and the first is completed.  The 2nd one is heat set with hand work and machine applique to do.  The first half of the 3rd is planned. So I am getting there.

I have been marinating my ideas for my Stay at Home Round Robin all week. The idea started by Quilting Gail and then first row by the Home Sewn by Us was to frame your block with the them of spools.  I truly enjoy a challenge of selecting the block and making it fit the center block I started last week. I did need to change the width of the border to make it work.

While it is not all sewn together, I will complete it this weekend. This evening we are celebrating my daughter's birthday, cutting my sewing time down. 

The block was designed by Nancy Zieman found on Pinterest and my finished size is 3 and 1/2 inches. 

And lastly it is fun just to sit and piece scrappy 9 patches. No matter how many I piece and use scraps up, it doesn't make much of a dent in the fabric stash. 

 

And my January goal is COMPLETE.  All the machine quilting, binding and details are added.  And I hung the new wall hanging on the door!  The snowman top  was probably started 15 or more years ago and I was stuck adding the words below.  I just decided to finish it up as is, forget the words, and SEW I did.  Posted on Elm Street Quilts  One Monthly Goal. 

Startitis: the obsession of creating more quilting projects

 So my machine has been buzzing away.  I love having days home to sew.   Sometimes, I like to be a hermit. I have made 16 of my ocean waves blocks and am on schedule to finish for my guild's show. But I am getting worried at the prospect of matching all these blocks together.

And I am working on the 2nd blocks of my Merry Merry Christmas. 

I even started quilting my UFO for January: Ye Old Snowman.

I used a wool scrap batting giving it puffiness. 

Another block of the Sewcialites 2 completed.

So you think that would be enough?   Of course, not.  I started as a leader and ender 9 patches made of 1 inch squares.  Inspiration from Gretchen's Little Corner.  

And then I remembered the Stay at Home Round Robin. I loved making it last year. But got stuck after the 3rd round.   I pulled out the fabrics and have plenty.  First block made from the Grid Girls mystery.  I struggled  worked at the cat's cradle block and found I had a ruler to make it as well. Hooray. 2 versions: I can't decide. 

Unstuck

As the title reflects, I was fretting over my projects. (That and the darn Olympics.) And although I was sewing a  little each day, I am behind in getting things done especially for my online sew alongs. 

 But I am so grateful for my quilting friends.  Encouragement was what I needed to get going. And your comments rang in my ears as I sat down yesterday to sew. 

THANK YOU! 

So my first big AH HA moment was when working on my SAHRR round 4.  I finally put the blocks next to the center, and yes, I needed that coping strip.  

I then worked on arrangement of blocks around the center.  My idea of having matching colors near the corners bombed. Oh, Well... 

But it came out.  The coral/peachy stars are brighter in sunlight. 

And then I got back to embroidery.  I got cold and didn't want to move from under the quilt, so I just pulled the gnome out from my basket next to the couch.

Lastly, a mug rug.  So cute for Valentine's Day. 

One was given to my daughter and this one to a very good friend.

Progress.   

More to come!  

And quilty friends are the best.

 

SAHRR Round 3

 I have made the plan for my row and love the colors and design.  I feel so bad that I have not completed the patchwork for the deadline. 

The issue is the odd measurement which started with my center block. As I used charm squares, the measurement could of course, not be 5 inches. so as I made hourglass blocks, It ended up at 11 inches. And each successive round is off.  

So this round is starting at a measurement of 23 inches. 

My plan is to reduce my 6 inch blocks 1/4 inch making it fit the width/length.

Here is the design of the blocks and mathematics for how many.

And here are the sample blocks which are not sewn together yet.

And then these are the corner blocks:  

So I will have to work twice as hard to get my Round Robin completed this week.

Plus I need to finish my valentine mug rugs. 

Piecing progress

 First I wanted to show the progress on my Stay at Home Round Robin.

This round, the 2nd one around the wool applique center, was to use diamonds. I took all week to come up with a plan.  It just came to me as I was sewing this afternoon. And I really needed to put it back into a square anyway.  So it is kind of a diamond. 

Then I worked on my hourglass blocks. I keep rearranging the colors. But then I did get this together. 

I just didn't get a picture as it didn't get pressed yet.   50  units each at 3 inches. 

Next I worked on my patchwork trees for my Christmas gnomes. 

          

Each a little different from each other and fun to figure them out.  

Curves

Curves:  No, I am not a fan of exercising.  And this is not about joining a fitnessclub or something.  

THIS is about the 2nd round of the Stay at Home Round Robin on adding curves to the center block.  Here is the link for Anja's  blog for the inspiration and her version:  Curves     From there, you can find links to the other quilters in the group. Maybe you will want to join???

Here is my finished project turned on its side for the first round around the center. It is not a very good photo, due to the sun. 

First I started with adding a 2 1/2 inch border to the block.

Then I toyed with the design, and  created templates from x-ray film. ( cheap substitute for template plastic)  I had lots of trimming and measuring to get it to fit. And yes, I knew the corners were going to overlap.

I then used fabric sizing sprayed into the white bowl.   I would have used spray starch, but we are all out. 

The liquid gets painted onto the borders  to saturate itand then ironed onto the film.

The ironing dries the sizing making the appropriate shape.

I used the three film curves over and over and made 16 blocks. 

The next step was to "glue" the shapes onto the border. I had Roxanne's Glue Baste it, but it is old and I instead just used a pointed tooth pick from Cracker Barrel to dot the edges and hold them onto the border.

Lastly I hand appliqued the shapes around all the edges. 

Finit!   

I cannot take credit for this technique.  I learned it from Erin Russek of One Piece at a Time, her blog.

I have followed her for years. She now works at a Quilt Magazine in Denver. So very talented !

Here are her videos on the technique: erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time/applique-lessons/

Here is the last block of Erin's Peppermint Twist blocks she did in December.