Finishing little and big

 I have been finishing things: old and new.

1)  So happy to finally get the binding on my navy Chandelier Quilt.  I really love the  colors and design as it sets all of those leftover quarter square triangles. The patchwork is in reproduction fabrics and it is twin sized. 

I sent it to my quilting with a no rush request and she held it for a while.  No big deal.  and then when I got it back, I put it on a back burner especially since I went on retreat and visited the grandkids. 

She elected to quilt with an interesting lightning bolt all over stipple. So appropriate!

2) I finished my cross stitch for fall which I have been doing for the past 6 weeks.  It is a Lori Holt design, but I used her colors from another pattern and kit I have of hers.  My first work on evenweave.  I like the results, and it was a challenge to count. but I am so happy with the result. 

3) I worked on quilting some small projects.  I did a rough straight line quilt around the blocks for a July 4th piece.  In the middle, I knocked off the thread stand and spent an hour searching for it.   So I ended up organizing some projects. And that was an accomplishment.  And then I found the thread stand.  YEAH.

So I then attached a 30 inch square of exchange blocks I whipped together at retreat.  Not a great quilt design, but I just wanted to get it off my pile.  So donation quilt it is.  My muscle memory was pretty good for the large free motion stipple.  My foot however, was inconsistent on speeds changing stitch length as I sewed.   It was good to practice again.

The back was an old Deb Strain flannel, perfectfor the colors AND I had a spool of a light orange. A perfect thread for the quilting. the edge of the binding fabric is sticking out. Good enough.

These were churn dash blocks cut into fourths, which I then reassembled. 

Another mini top

Last winter I made a quilt top needing 400 quarter square triangles.  Well I finished it, but without the last border and was left with over 240 of these hour glass blocks.  So this is my first use of them.  It is a meager 32 units.  But I enjoyed the wool, finding a design, selecting the colors and appliqueing it done. Then on to the assembly of a quilt. I utilized the Fat Quarter Quilting book for inspiration.  

10 by 16 inches

I have a 2nd block planned for it with a different layout.  So many creative ideas and not enough time. 

I have 60 5 inch broken dishes blocks made. 

I have been working steadily on my 9 patch scrap quilt. If I don't feel like working on anything else, I will just sit and sew 1 and 1/2 inch squares together randomly putting colors together Last night it was 20 of these units.   It is now 24 inches by 81; this is it folded in half. 

Lots of exchange blocks!

I did complete my blocks for shams from the magazine. These are for ME!  This is how one of them turned out.  I really like it. And the circles turned out well. 

Here are both of them ( 2 blocks for 2 shams or pillows).  I have not completely decided how to go from here. The variation of Thimbleberries fabrics turned out great. It didn't put much of a dent in the 5 inch bag, though. 

All of the rest of these are for other friends

First is a batik block.  I had her box for 2 rounds and ended up making 8 blocks total.

I think there are about 28 made thus far. 

The hard part was putting the right colors together to make 4 different combinations from 4 different fabics. 

This was the pattern she selected and she had a kit from Keepsake Quilting. 

Great colors were included, but  I added a few as well. 

• Here are all my blocks together.
• My layout isn't quite right, but you can see the colors. 
• Color value is key in this block. I need to work to improve in this area. 

This next one was another Cake Mix design from Miss Rosie. 

I just saw the mistake.  It will not be hard to fix. 

I am grateful I took the pictures to find the mistake. 

This is another Cake Mix.  Someone worked ahead, so I have 2 to work on this month.

The pattern made 2 from the same 10 inch squares. So pretty. 

Love the blue and whites. 

Retreat

I had the pleasure of 2 days away fully devoted to quilting and friends. I can't  tell what joy it was to be with such talented ladies sharing meals and ideas together.

We listened to old musicals and Broadway hits while hunkering down to our machines and tools creating quilts.

We had a great facility near Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was a side by side new building each having room for 6 quilt/crafters which can be opened up to 12 all together.

We took turns with meals, snacks, and such and had a wealth of good food.

Here is the quilt I pieced together while there.  This is my RSC challenge from 2017.  Each month was a different color and I chose the  muted tones.  These are 2 of the blocks: each is a finished 6 inch block.  

I had completed 112 blocks of which I put together 108. All I worked on was sewing the finished blocks into a 9 x 12 arrangement, having laid them out on New Year's Day.  I need to check my corners and resew as needed, press well and then add the 3 inch half square triangle border. 

Here are a few of the projects the others were busy on: 

This is a Kaffe Fasset fabric collection. It is from a quilt store in Mukwonago called Quilt-agious and is featured on their website: http://www.quilt-agious.com, if you are interested. I don't know the pricing at all. 

The next is the beginnings of our guild's raffle quilt for 2020 featuring an Edita Sitar pattern from her book on Patches of Blues and the fabric line to go with it.  The outer border will be applique with lots of vines and small circles. ( I prepared 400 or so inches of bias strips.)

This is a T-shirt quilt by a friend for a nephew who attended Loyola University in Chicago.

I hated having to return home and go back to work.

Schoolhouse rocks

I am getting anxious, just like many other moms and teachers.  Summer is winding down. I am counting the last of my quilting days.  Ugghhh.  I really was able to quilt lots this summer. But the party has to end sometime.

Next week back to school meetings. And then Labor Day weekend and then SCHOOL.
The fun of a new schedule with new kids.  A new year, a new beginning. At least that is what I keep
telling myself.
 

So on that theme: here is my latest "experiment"  

The schoolhouse block?

I pulled out some fun colors and started the School house blocks. It took me several tries to master the paper pattern pieces.  Oh, to shoot a printer someday!
 ( Pattern originally from All People Quilt  Home for the Harvest by Carrie Nelson)

The trick: that pesky peak to match the chimney.  Using their paper pieces for the roof   KEY in my estimation.  Also make sure to print to scale. 

And as the pattern shows there is a mini.  Yeah! for minis!!  I don't know why but I have always enjoyed the smaller sizes, maybe because I am kind of smaller as people go.

And here are all my houses thus far: big and small. 

Linking up to Let's Bee Social and Midweek Makers.

Quilt retreat

One of my favorite things to do is go for a quilting retreat. I am leaving after school on Friday for the weekend.  And I will join many other ladies who have shop hopped along the way to arrive in the afternoon.  Yeah, some of us have to work.

But the great news is I will have 2 and half days of glorious sewing, laughing, eating, and having the best of times with a group of quilters. Could you ask for anything more? Oh, did I mention eating: we bring treats to snack on  And we have a chef who makes food for us to eat family style.
It is a UCC Church Camp on Green Lake in Wisconsin and they have quilt retreats from September to Thanksgiving, starting up again later in January through May. Different guilds and groups come.

So the weather didn't exactly cooperate: gray, cool, and off and on rain: more time to stay indoors and sew.  Here are two pictures of the sewing rooms with various tables for each person's area, cutting table on stilts, and an ironing station.  Right next to which was a bar of  snacks, to partake from: chocolate and salty, and homemade cookies, too.






There were 25 of us each with so many creative ideas, combinations of colors, patterns, and techniques. So much fun: stay up late?  get up early? you choose. The cabin next door housed our rooms with single beds. ( I actually did both the first day, but needed a nap the next afternoon.)

So here are some of the fabulous projects people were working on in various stages:
                             


                                               


                
                

Show and tell was after I left.  Again, some of us have to work on Monday. :(    The rest of the group was going to stay a 3rd night and leave early afternoon on Monday.


So what did I do?
1) First I caught up on my Blockheads:  ( These are 6 and a half inch blocks.) These are weeks 10 and 11. The star took a long, long time for those tiny pieces. This was called Lisa's Star and designed by Lisa Bongean.
       

2) Then I made 2 sets of curtains for my daughter in law. It is just a navy print to go with the quilt I made them.

3) Then I experimented with 1 and a half inch squares and used a  fusible grid on a thin pellon sheet to make 2 valentine hearts:  It worked out pretty slick.  They are both the same size; the wonders of photography.

                                

4) And lastly I have 7 transportation vehicles cut and ironed out for my Grandson's quilt.
I didn't machine applique, yet and  I have more to make. These are all at least 9 and a half inches tall or wide; some are a little taller or longer.

                  

Sunday morning: the sun came out the the lake was beautiful.  Here is the view going left and right from our work room windows.


 



All in all, it was a productive and fun weekend.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Finishing, finishing, finishing.

Working on:

Homespuns for church donation:  borders on!  Binding cut.

So glad to get this off my plate. I have a friend from church who said she would quilt it.  I have the back the the batting already.  This is what it looked like before border.

This will go to and Indian reservation in South Dakota, I believe. It will keep somebody warm.



Here is the backing and border that was left over.  It looks great, and resembles the soft flannel feel although it is just a woven cotton. The back is a nice flannel, an extra wide piece.




Tumbler together!  A Quilt of Valor!

Putting it together proved to be a bit more tedious than I would have liked. If you look at the outside edges on the right and left, you can see that it is the same block. As the tumbler does have a zig zag edge pattern, I cut it evenly down the middle and then reassembled the middle blocks, (former outside ones) together.  What I didn't realize in the original layout was that I needed one more vertical row to connect the 2 same shaped blocks. That was the tedious part.



I think I have found a back, but need to add more to the width. I found a cut off a quilt I made my brother of the same fabric company. And I will need to get a binding, and quilt it.

I would have sewed more today, but my son's basement ended up flooding and help was needed. Darn sump pump! My hubby had to purchase and install a new one. Some company came to dry the basement out, which included pulling up carpet and moving things upstairs and off the floor. Fortunately, he has insurance.

2nd Flimsy of the year!

So Sunday:  a day of rest!  Well my sewing machine needs a rest.  Actually, it needs a tune up.The tension is OFF. I couldn't stand it while I started to put this baby into larger sections. 

As I was at church this morning, I asked about the deadline for the donation quilt. This one, the one I started back here.  February 8.  It was sitting on my back table. And I was tired of prepping all my applique and not sewing piecework.  And they want the donations by the end of April.  Ugh,  I have a quilt to finish before then for the quilt show the 21st. 

So I needed to sew for someone else today.  And while putting chunks together for this donation quilt, my tension was just wrinkled on the long seams.  I found all my blocks that were made and laid it out.  Don't know how, but it worked out with 1 left over.  The layout is 9 by 11 squares.  Again this is a disappearing 9 patch with the red in the center and a staggered lay out. 

So I put my Bernina to the side, organized all the cords and such, and got my back up out.  It worked fine, but I did have to research how to get that 1/4 inch seam.  

Good news! The donation homespun quilt is together and the size is 54 by 66 inches.  I think I will add my red flannel as a border and cut it from the wide back.  I have more than enough.  It is hard to tell, but these are all homespuns.  I like how the red is random, but really pulls it together and gives it a pop.   

Donation quilt

As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a need for quilts for an Indian reservation out west. All I can remember is it is the Lakota tribe and my quilting buddies at church are going to make quilts of lap, twin, and double size to send to them and warm them up.

 I started cutting up my homespuns the last couple nights into 4.5 inch squares and found a red for the centers.   I am trying to balance the dark, starker colors with some rich mellow ones. So now I have 2 piles of fabrics on the floor. Poor hubby! At least it is better than pins on the floor.


I know that others may not like working on the floor, and I do have a cutting table.
But I was an elementary teacher once, and  am used to getting down on the floor even with my grandkids. Plus I used to do all my pattern cutting for clothes sewing on the floors.
It works for me.



Here are some 9 patches before ironing and cutting them up.

It is a nice diversion. Oh, did I hear "Squirrel!"  Sometimes making things for others is very rewarding. Plus, I do have that stash problem.  And of course, I think I need more warm reds, and blues.  I was surprised when I opened up my drawers of collections and didn't have some of the colors, I needed. To buy or not to buy? That is the question?



Here are 7 blocks cut up and rearranged. So good... so far...



Also,I want to thank Nancy Roshto for her wonderful idea of the Double Slice Layer Cake  Pattern.
 It is super easy and from the Missour iStar Quilt Company video here:  Double Slice layer cake pattern.
And I do have layer cake waiting for a purpose.

Guild BOM

BOM : My quilting guild has a BOM each month.  You bring in as many blocks as you would like and for each block you get to put your name in the drawing. I have 3 blocks and 3 chances to win about 12 of these made by other members along with a pattern using these blocks somewhere in it. 

Each block is 8 and 1/2 inches. The black squares are 2 and a 1/2 inches. The others are 2 and 1/2, 4 and 1/2 inches and 6  and 1/2 inches. All made from odds and ends of colors, some of which were in the scrap bag. 

Then I made one for myself to add to a collection of 8 and 1/2 inch BOM blocks  ( all fo 3)  But these are made with my Kansas Troubles stash.