I did accomplish something today

It wasn't what I'd hoped - I didn't get any quilts basted - but I cut batting for every small quilt I've finished.  Here you see eight quilts rolled with their battings.  This eliminated the stack of batting pieces that have been filling corners in the sewing room, making it hard to organize them - hooray!
Next week I'll work on cutting backs and basting all of these.  Hopefully the last two will get the applique and embroidery finished this weekend so I can do the same with them.

It will be nice having all these ready to go.  In the meantime I've been quilting away on "Peace on Earth", which is closer and closer to being finished.

Another "almost finished" top

And a top that is actually put together correctly LOL!

All that's left to do is applique the bird by the Christmas tree, the five stars on the top border, and six tiny ultra suede bird legs.  This one will also go with me to the retreat this weekend.

I finished 12 Cracker Box blocks for still another 30's group swap.  They went into the mail today.  I feel very good about that - the deadline isn't until December 2nd!  That's it for swap blocks until the new year.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before I mailed them.

I've even straightened up the mess in the sewing room.  Tomorrow I'm going to baste a bunch of quilt tops.  At least that's the plan!

Coming up - some new giveaways!

What's been happening

I returned home from our son's house late last Wednesday night.  With the beginnings of a nasty cold (sorry if I already mentioned that - right now thinking takes almost more energy that I have).  Now, a week later, I'm  still trying to feel better.  It's strange - when I was a kid my colds lasted about 3 days.  Mom put us to bed and nursed us with toast points, chicken noodle soup and mustard plasters.  (Anyone else remember those?)  These days I don't stay in bed - I'm either at the computer in a congested stupor playing computer games that don't take any brain power, or I'm sitting in my sewing room doing mindless handwork.  I've not left the house since Thursday morning, when I returned the defunct red iron to Fabric depot and got the new lenses put in all three pairs of glasses - regular, close-up, and sunglasses.  (Amazing - I can really see better now, and I don't get double vision when I'm doing applique!) 

Enough already - I'll quit whining now.

I've crossed two things off my October goal list.  I bound and labeled "Angel Dance" - that's 13 quilts on my "completed quilt" list for 2013.  What a great feeling - 10 of which were UFO's from prior years.

I also finished appliqueing the first block for the "Sweet Memories" quilt.  I've very happy with how it turned out.  I'm going to do the other 8 blocks gradually, interspersing them between working on

other projects.  As you can see in this post, there are a limited number of fabrics in this quilt.  It's been YEARS since I made a quilt with so few fabrics.  I know if I tried to do the blocks one after another I would get so bored that I might never finish.  One every month or even every other month is a good goal IMHO.

The sewing room is a mess right now - stuff everywhere - as is the rest of the house.  There is no way I'm cleaning until I feel better, and there is no way I can get to the cutting table as is.  I have the applique prepared for one more small quilt on my list, so that's what I'm working on next.  Once that is done I will HAVE to find the cutting board, as I'll have quite a few applique blocks that need trimming before I can complete the two quilt tops.

The "Sweet Memories" block is the first I've done in which I used all the preparation and stitching methods I learned in Pearl P. Periera's DVD.  I first taught myself to applique in 1989, and have tried many different methods during the ensuing years.  I'm happy with my skills, but I believe I can always learn new tricks - that's why I bought the DVD.  I'm thrilled with this method, and believe anyone can learn to applique using it.  Even if you are scared witless by the very idea of applique.  Even if you've tried applique before and felt you failed.  I will eventually post a "tutorial" of what I did, but it won't be everything because I respect Pearl's copyright.  I have no relationship whatsoever with Pearl - just a very, happy, satisfied customer.  I rate this DVD as A+ - the best resourse I've ever seen for teaching applique.  I like it even better than what I learned in various expensive classes I've taken from renowned teachers through the years.  If you really, really want to do applique, then this is the method you should try.  JMHO, of course!

One block is prepared

I love how this is looking!

And I give two thumbs up to Pearl Periera's applique method.  The only difference between hers and mine is that I still use the stiletto in my right hand and my left fingers to help turn under the seam allowance, followed by the iron.  She has the stiletto in her left hand and the iron in her right and does it all in one step.  Her left hand is obviously more talented than mine.

On Monday I picked up a new little iron to use for this process - it is similar to the one Pearl uses in her DVD.  It is VERY light weight, has no steam vents so the entire soleplate is hot, and a nice pointy front end.  I like it a lot!  It's tiny - my pressing mat (which looks like it's time I retired it) is just over 12" square.  The handle comes off and is stored by sliding it onto the base.  I found it at Fabric Depot in Portland OR.  They have them in the online store as well as in the actual store.

Now I'll have some lunch, clean off the cutting table and start making bindings!

I'm still here

I am surprised to see how long it has been since I posted.  It shows you that I've been doing nothing of photo value.

I have finished making all the templates for Baltimore Autumn except for the large center block.  In doing so I used up the second roll of freezer paper that I bought all those years ago.  Those of you new to quilting and/or new to applique probably aren't aware of the "Great Freezer Paper Scare" of

the early 1990's.  The Reynolds company announced they were no longer going to produce freezer paper - or so the rumor said.  The applique lovers of the quilting world panicked and started stockpiling freezer paper.  We all tried to determine how many rolls we would need so we wouldn't run out before we died.  Freezer paper flew off the store shelves.  It was very hard to find.  Word would spread when a store got in a shipment and the rolls would disappear off the shelves in record time.  A letter writing campaign to Reynolds began.  I, myself, bought two rolls, then two more, then two more, always afraid I'd never have enough.  I think I had 8 or 10 rolls when I finally stopped buying.  Eventually Reynolds announced they had no intention of stopping the production of freezer paper and the madness ended.  I sold several of my rolls in the following years, and now have four or five left.  In 20 years I've used two of them.  Just the thought of our madness makes me laugh.

I'm ready to start choosing fabrics, but had to put that aside to make sure I have plenty of handwork prepared for this next weekend.  My Tangled Threads buddies and I have rented a house at Arch Cape, OR for the weekend.  We are right on the ocean and are hoping for nice weather.  It's been about 18 months since we got away together - we can hardly wait.  I knew I would never be able to prepare any Baltimore Autumn blocks in time, so I pulled out a kit that I've had for years and years and will have it ready to go.  I'm excited to start this one.  It is called "Sweet Memories".  It is from the booklet "Lovina's Pressed Flowers" by Blackbird Designs (Barb Adams and Alma Allen), copyrighted in 2003. 

 

Easy, large applique, so this should be fairly quick to do.  My goal is to prepare 3 blocks for the weekend.   Here are the fabrics - I just love how they look together!

Of course I'll take my basket of hand quilting also, for when I get tired of doing applique.

We are going to have such a great time!

What's going on . . .

I needed some handwork these last few days, so I completed this little top.  Super simple applique and piecing.  Another finished top to add to the list.

Dash of Spring designed by Jan Patek

I've put away the machine and piecing for now to give me a work table for my new applique project.  It's been a VERY long time since I did a complex applique design.  This will be the first time I've used an overlay.  I'm eager to try it.  Previously I used the light box with the fabric over the pattern and pinned pieces in place.  Many pieces mysteriously migrated a bit as they were sewn down.  Not a good thing when the design is as complex as these.  This is the third of the overlays - two done and one nearly done.  I'm so eager to start choosing fabrics for these blocks!  I'm very excited, as this will be done from all those stacks of non-reproduction fabrics!

I'm sure everyone is waiting for me to do the drawings - I've just not gotten around to doing it.  By the end of this week for sure!

Now I'm really all over the place!

Week before last was the Pacific West Quilt Show in Tacoma, WA - a little over 2 hours north of us.  I've been looking forward to this show for a LONG time.  Three of my Tangled Threads friends and I headed north for a wonderful day . . . the other was totally envious as she had to go to a wedding. 

The group, formerly known as the Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters, includes the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington,and Wyoming in the US, and British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories in Canada.  The juried show is held every other year, and is always spectacular.

This year was no exception.  Amazingly spectacular quilts, including several from our guild, Clark County Quilters in Vancouver WA.  I took lots of pictures, but I'm going to include only a few.  I was so enthralled that I forgot to take pictures of the labels, and I really don't like to post pictures without giving the maker credit.

The reflections are created with scraps cut with pinking shears!

Made by Helene Knott, Portland OR

I've already set myself a new goal - to have a quilt juried into the 2015 show.  Wish me luck!

Of course, I did some damage in the merchant mall.  I bought more batiks to add to my growing collection, and I bought another pattern.  It is one I've loved ever since I first saw it.  Every fall I tell myself that this is the year I'll actually start a fall quilt.  This year I'm going to do it.  Come September all that calls to me are yellows, oranges, reds, greens, golds, and browns.  So what did I choose?

Baltimore Autumn by Pearl P. Pereira

 The blocks are 12", which is smaller than I want, so today I'm taking them to Fed-X today to have them enlarged to 15".  That will give me a bed size quilt instead of a wall quilt, and the applique pieces won't be quite so small.  I've bought my background fabric, and have plenty in my stash for the applique.  Once I bring my enlarged patterns home I don't know if I'll have the will power to not start it right away!

An added aside:  When I showed my purchases to my friends I learned why the quilt looked so familiar to me.  One of them already had the pattern, and two more of them are getting it as a block of the month.  Makes me smile - so often our group has similar tastes!  No one has started making it yet, however.  I plan to be the first to start.

The fourth month is completed.

Along the bottom row you can see the 6 colorations I constructed from the 12 created in EQ.  I know there are more than 12 possible, but I stopped at that as I knew I was only making 6.

I sewed dark/light triangle squares as leader-enders, so I'll be able to construct lots of split 9-patch blocks on Scrap Basket Sunday.

Now to see what month five's block looks like!

The answer is six . . . until the blocks change to 4x4

I've not yet figured out how many are possible with a 16-piece block.  I know it is at least 12, but I'm guessing there might be more than that.  Thanks to EQ I have lots of different colorations planned.  Now to decide which 6 to use for my blocks.

I've started a new block of the month I purchased several years ago.  Each installment came with 3 fat quarters of fabric.  Each pattern presents a block with three possible colorations using the three fabrics.  Three of each of the blocks makes a nice wall hanging.  The patterns go on to challenge the quilter to explore other color arrangements using the same three fabrics.  I'm making 6 blocks each month, which will give me a large queen size quilt.

I'm having lots of fun playing with changing colorations. They can really change the look of a block to the point where it is hard to realize it is the same block.  I've been finishing six blocks a day, so I should get this top finished quickly.

Playing with blocks is so much fun!

How many ways can a block be colored?

Scrap Basket Sunday

More shoo fly blocks are half finished - 39 of them!  The triangle squares are stitched together, waiting to be pressed and trimmed today. 

Miss Feather is coming home tomorrow, and finishing these blocks are the first thing on her agenda.  It will be so good to have her home. 

When these are finished I will have 55 blocks.  I swear, the scrap basket doesn't look like I've taken anything out of it!  I think the scraps are all growing while we are sleeping.

Making great progress with basting!

I have nine small quilts basted now, and four or five more to do.  I feel better and better after I finish each one.  It especially feels good to see them moved from the "Flimsies" list to the "Basted for Quilting list.  I've got my eye on  the 2013 Goals #4 - one I should be able to achieve without too much trouble 

I did make one boo boo today, which you can see in the picture below.  The wrong side of the quilt backing is facing out LOL!  Since this is just a small seasonal wall hanging for us I'm leaving it that way.  The front side is almost as nondescript as the back side.  This will certainly make it easy to write the label.

This little quilt is a Jan Patek design from a few years ago.  This will be big stitched, and I'll be a bit more creative with this one than the others to be big stitched.  The design lends itself to swirls in the sky ala Van Gogh's "Starry Night", horizontal siding on the house and diagonal lines on the room.  Something bough-like will work for the trees.  This one will be fun to do!

This "Stretched Stars" top was a gift from my friend Kathie.  It's been hanging in the closet with all the other finished tops, waiting for its turn to be hand quilted.  Kathie, that turn has come.  This one is near the top as far as quilting order goes.  It might not be done this month, but certainly will be done by the end of June.  I thank you again for sending me such a precious gift.  You know me so well - choosing plaids for my gift top.

Tomorrow's plan is to spend some time working a bit early on my Scrap Basket Sunday project.  I have a bunch of fabrics that I paired together and ironed so I could cut more blocks.  I need to get those cut out as I need all the cutting table space for the last four quilts needing basting.  I can also sew together and trim all the half square triangle squares so they are ready to sew into blocks when Miss Feather gets home.  It is going to be a busy weekend!

Another top finished

I'm really loving these Schnibbles quilts.  The top goes together so quickly.  They are a great size for end tables, coffee tables and across the backs of chairs.  The quilting goes quickly too, as they are small.  I love how my "Gentle Art" looks.  I like it so much better than last month's "Hat Trick".  I know what makes the difference - I used fabrics from two instead of one "line", plus threw quite a few pieces from still other lines.

I've learned my lesson - this is just my own personal taste - I find quilts made with only one like of fabric to be too "matchy", with no fabric that stands out from any other fabric.  It is amazing to me how much difference just adding a second line made in this quilt.  So when I shop for charm squares after this I will make sure to pick up at least two or three sets that look good together but aren't the same.

I'm going back to basting tomorrow.  I would like hand quilt and bind this piece before the parade at the end of the month.  I need to also baste the primitive top I'm to have done by the end of the month.  By the end of the weekend I'd like to have the other 6 tops basted also.  At least that is my goal.

I had my seam ripper ready

Which was a good thing.  Once again quilter's dyslexia struck again so the "reverse sewing machine" got a workout.  I took a picture of the blocks on the design wall, and checked it often.  Each time I was sure I knew which block came next, or which block was horizontal and which was vertical, I turned out to be wrong.  I need to develop the habit of checking the picture before every seam LOL!

I'm pleased with this top and I'm eager to get it finished.  Not today, however.  It is time I stopped sewing long enough to get some chores done.  Knitting guild is tonight, and I'm bringing some of the refreshments.  A trip to the grocery is in order.

The Gentle Art

I don't remember whether or not sewing was ever called "The Gentle Art".  It seems like it would be logical and natural if it was.  Throughout history sewing was a close second only to food preparation when it came to a wife's part of providing what the family needed.  And we have antique quilts which prove that sewing provided a way for women to exercise creativity, even when she was making do with scraps and old clothing.  Of course, many quilts were made with new materials bought especially for quilt making, but many were not.

I'm guessing these were Carrie Nelson's thoughts when she named the May "Vintage Schnibbles" pattern "The Gentle Art".  I have always wanted to make a spool quilt, and now have finally had the chance.  The pattern calls for 25 blocks, but I made a couple extra so I'd have choices when arranging the blocks.  One of those can serve as the label for the back.  In addition to the fabrics I named yesterday I pulled random charm squares from the drawer and fabrics from the shelves.  I needed a fat quarter for an inner border so that had to come from the shelves.  In order to "tie it in" with the rest of the fabrics I used the piece for several backgrounds too.

A big "Thank you!" to my friend Kim, who owns two featherweights that she rarely uses, for lending a machine to me while Miss Feather is in hospital.  This allowed me to finish these blocks so I can tidy at least one area of my messy sewing room. 

This isn't the final arrangement of the blocks - I lined them up by color to make sure I had a balanced number of color choices.  I still need to cut strips for the outside border, which I'll do tomorrow.  The blocks have already been talking to me - telling me how they want to be quilted - so I imagine I'll be hand quilting this top very soon.

The construction method for this quilt calls for squares and rectangles to form the trapezoid with corner triangles.  This is NOT my preferred method, though I know many people love doing it this way.  (I find the old fashioned way of cutting a trapezoid and triangles and sewing them together to be much more accurate.)  This way worked best for this quilt, however, as it is made from charm squares, so I didn't change the construction.  I refuse to toss the tiny "waste" triangles so I will soon have a nice selection of tiny half-square triangle squares to use in a mini quilt one of these days.  They will finish at 1/2" square!

When I make half-square triangle squares that finish at 1" or smaller, I always press the seam open.  When working with pieces this tiny the seam allowances need to be as flat as possible.  It makes it a bit trickier to match intersections as the seams can't "snuggle up next to each other"; careful pinning and stitching takes care of that problem.

This is what happens when my featherweight is in hospital

(No, I don't have a British bone in my body.  I've just been watching a LOT of British television, including "Call the Midwife" - love it!)

The sewing room is a mess because I have so many things going on at once.  I can't sew, so it seems I can't settle down either.  I was fine as long as I was working on Hat Trick.  When I finished this morning it seems my focus took off in several directions.

 

Here are Shoo Fly blocks I cut out last Monday after taking Miss Feather to hospital.  They are now squished onto a small corner of the cutting board - I'm so hoping they haven't been mixed up.  I should probably rescue them by setting them aside somewhere - but where?  Ever surface is covered LOL!

Here is what is crowding them into the corner - leftovers from Hat Trick that I'm incorporating into the Vintage Schnibble quilt for May - Gentle Art.   The collection I'm designing the blocks around is one of Howard Marcus' "Collections for a Cause" by Moda.  The packet I'm using is mostly darks, so the leftovers of "Chelsea Boutique" add needed medium tones.  I'm pulling lots of random light squares from my 5" square drawer for the background so they are a mix of many different lines and designers.

Meanwhile, waiting on top of the scraps in the large scrap basket are four little quilt tops basted for quilting.  I think I'll start hand quilting "Butterscotch Stars" to further develop the great callouses forming on my under-the-hoop fingers.

On the floor in the corner, on top of the fabrics waiting for pre-washing, are seven more little quilts needing to be basted.  Right now my basting table for little quilts - which masquerades as a cutting table most days - is covered with fabric.

I guess I should start pre-washing fabrics too, now that I have a big, brand new jar of Orvus Paste from the feed store.

On top of the ironing station are the brights plus the white I pulled to make a quilt similar to the bright Hat Trick quilt seen here that is haunting my quilty dreams.  I'm so eager to get going on this top!

Lastly, hanging on the door into the sewing room is the 2003-2004 Girl Gang quilt top (designed by Jan Patek) which is lacking two borders of being done.  The next border I need to do is very simple - just big squares on the top and bottom with inset pieces going diagonally across them to form a zigzag on each end.  There is no reason that isn't done - it won't take but a day or two to finish that.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is my birthday.  I have no idea how I'll spend it, other than going out for breakfast (I hope!) and dinner.  I bet some of it will be spent working on at least two or three of these projects!

(So sorry for dark pictures.  I discovered - after I took them and posted them - that the camera was set for "no flash".  I tried to re-take them and the battery died.  It seems Blogger is messing around with my font size again also.  And my paragraph spacing!  I hate it when that happens!)

Back to cutting . . . .

since I'm feeling better today.  Thanks for the feel good wishes you sent.

And a huge thank you to Jo C. who sent me a check to help pay for give away postage.  I really appreciate that Jo!

I'm continuing to cut for the new quilt - almost done now.  I should finish today.

I'm cutting extras of almost everything so I can replenish my "parts" boxes.  I know why I never used what I had before - it was all OLD fabric that I really didn't like anymore.  I gave all those OLD scraps for charity quilts.  Now I'm calling them "spare parts" since they really aren't scraps.  So far I've eliminated two fabrics from my shelves.  A small beginning but a beginning nevertheless. 

So far the boxes are labeled 1 1/2" squares, 2" squares, 2 1/2" squares, 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" bricks, and small strings.  As I organize fabric and cut out more quilts I'll fill the boxes.  It will be like having shelves of "quilt kits".

Yesterday I spent the day on the couch going through two shelves of quilt history books.  I used 3 packages of Post-It page markers.  Lots and lots of new ideas are percolating in my brain.  I had a great time even though I didn't feel up to sewing.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
 Gratitudes:

1. Waking up feeling almost well
2. Waking up to blue sky and sun streaming through the window
3. A golf tournament keeping DH happily engaged away from home for the day

Pressing, cutting, pressing, cutting . . . .

I love to play with fabrics.

Lots and lots of squares

Inspirational reading . . . .

What should I make now?  So many ideas, so much fabric, I think I'll just play for awhile.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Gratitudes:

1.  A birthday lunch with knitting friends

2.  A steaming cup of English Breakfast tea with milk

3.  My husband's renewed health

I got to sew today!

It seems like so long since I sat at the machine to sew.  It felt so good to accomplish something today, other than finishing ironing my fabric purchases, even if it didn't amount to very much.

I cut dozens of 2" x 6 1/2" strips from the Civil War Diary sashing I bought on Friday, and then sewed the first row together.  I love the way it looks spread across the top of the design wall.  ( I should have cropped the picture, but I was eager to get today's post written.)  If you enlarge the picture you can see the blocks much better.

  The close-up shows the first two blocks of the second row.  I need to decide on fabrics for the corner stones next so I can sew the between-rows sashing.  I still have lots of blocks to make, but this makes me feel that a quilt top can't be THAT far away.

After dinner I gave myself permission to start a new project - a small one - as a reward for all the UFO work I did the last 6 weeks.  The quilt I chose is called "Bittersweet Stars", and is from year 9 of Jo Morton's "Little Women's Club".  The quilt finishes at 13 1/4" x 17 1/2".  The tiny blocks, which are set on point with alternate plain squares, finish at 3".  They are lots of fun to do, but make the CWD blocks seem huge by comparison!

All the pieces are cut out, and I'm working on the "hourglass" star points.  I had to finish one block, however, so I could see what the quilt will look like.  I think I like it but I'm not sure. Do you think the alternate squares are too dark?  Maybe I need to finish more blocks before decide.  What do you think?  Do you think they are too dark?

It's 11:13 pm - I wish I could sew more blocks instead of going to bed!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
 Gratitudes:

1.  Leftovers for dinner give me more sewing time.
2.  A perfect spring day - warm, blue sky with clouds, and flowers blooming everywhere
3.  Hot cocoa with whipped cream on top.

Finally after all these years . . .

My friend Kathie - "Inspired by Antique Quilts" - and I have talked about doing a project in tandem for years.  Over that time we've talked about it, tossed ideas around, but never came to a decision.  And then I "left" for two years.  I guess it just wasn't time yet.

We've decided that this year is IT.  We've chosen a project.  She has her pattern, and I'm waiting for mine to arrive.  I hope it comes fast enough for us to start the first week of March.  We are both using reproduction fabrics, but I'm sure they will still be quite different.

We chose "Stars and Sprigs" by Kim McLean.  I've admired Kim's patterns for years, but this is the first one I've purchased.  We are going to shoot for one pieced and one applique block per week.

I have a name for my quilt already - "Friends in Tandem".  I see many, many inches of tiny bias strips in my near future.  I'll have to find my bias bars.

This is going to be so much fun!