Heirloom Stitches July Blocks

Finished the two pieced July blocks for Heirloom Stitches - more or less anyway. They would both be done except a square of green was inadvertently left out of my kit. It's pretty tough to cut 2, 2 7/8" squares from one 4" square. I emailed them today and they are sending another square right out. So as soon as it arrives I can finish the Union Square block.

The other block is called Aunt Martha's Tulips. I love how it turned out, but it's one of the most complicated blocks I've ever pieced. It's just 12" square, so those half square triangle squares finish at 1 1/2". If I counted correctly there are 93 pieces in this block - that's a lot of pieces to squeeze into 12". There are 16 flying geese units alone, and that's one of my least favorite units to piece. This would make a wonderful looking quilt but I don't know that I'd want to take that much time for an entire quilt. This one block took me several hours to cut and piece. I know one thing - if I were going to design a quilt around this block I'd draft it to be considerably larger than 12"!

I thought some of you might like to see the back so you could see how I pressed it. Notice I didn't hesitate to press seams open, or clip seams so I could press part in one direction and part in another. I'm not at all afraid of the clip weakening the seam on the quilt. After all, when I used to sew clothing I'd make lots of close together clips on the bottom of the armseye when sewing in a sleeve, and would do the same for the crotch seam on a pair of pants. If those seams didn't rip open while wearing the garment with all the stress on them while being warn and washed, then I have no fear of the quilt seams ripping open at these points. They will certainly suffer way less stress than the clothes I used to make for my kids!

The is also an appliqué wreath block for July - prepping that for handwork is my next quilty task That and quilting Broken Dishes, which is loaded onto Gandalf and has had the first three passes of the pantograph stitched. I'll finish it as soon as the weather cools down a little. As you can see the stitching I've done hardly shows up at all, so I chose a very simple pattern called "Surf's Up", just to give it some texture and hold the layers together.

Opinions requested . . .

or at least assurance that I'm doing the right thing . . .

With so many people looking at stashes, UFO's, etc. I know we are being a good influence on each other. That's what got me into this quandry. First I read about Barbara's decision to toss theUFO's that didn't appeal to her. Many, including me, applauded her for doing so. I've done this several times in the past, and really though I'd tossed all the ones I didn't want.

Then, this afternoon as I was revising my progress on my sidebar, I took a look at my list of UFT's, and immediately thought "Do I really want to finish that one?" Right away I decided the answer was no.

But now I'm home and I'm second guessing myself. First I thought "No I won't toss it - I think I really like what I've done here." Then I put some of the pieces up on the design wall (the only thing really sewn together is the feathers and 5 of the purple triangles) to take the first picture you see to the left. (I didn't have a design wall when I started this - well over 15 years ago - so this is the first time I've looked at it this way.) My immediate thought was "hmmm . . . I don't know whether I like that or not. It's awfully busy, and the center doesn't stand out the way I thought it would."

This was to be a "quick" project when I started it. I planned to enter a challenge at In the Beginning Quilts in Seattle. The fabric in the second picture was the challenge fabric. Obviously I never came close to finishing it - I think it was due at the store in less than 6 months - and here it sits all these years later. The appliqué and embroidery is tiny and delicate, as you can see by the third picture. The leaves are 7/8" long, the tulip 1" long and the center flower is 1 3/4" with a 3/4" center. The stems are embroidered with one strand of floss. You can see I've not made a lot of progress by looking at the last picture. The applique is done on 3 of the 9 blocks. A fourth is in progress. All the little pieces are cut out, and the size of them terrifies me now that my eyes have aged and my hands have arthritis. The strips of feathers are all pieced.

These are just NOT my colors and never were. I have no idea whether I have more of the green and purple fabric around. I never planned what was going to happen around the outside of the star or in the borders. I figured I plan that after I constructed the star I guess. And I never make quilts with so few fabrics any more.

So ladies - I think I'll toss this one out. The three appliqué blocks can go into my orphan block drawer. The strips of feathers can go into my crumbs drawer for mile-a-minute blocks. The cut applique pieces can go into the garbage. The floral can go into the stack of fabrics I'm cutting up for quilt backs. I can cross one more UFT off my list.

Does anyone disagree with me and think I should finish this one? Does anyone else love it enough to want to finish it - I'll happily gift it to you. I just don't want to finish it, and now that I've written this post I've convinced myself that getting rid of it is the right thing to do.

Update: Now that I've really thought about this I've realized what really bothers me. The flowers in the center of the appliqué blocks are too dark! If all 9 of them were up there they'd look like some sort of bazarre target practice piece! Isn't it amazing what a design wall, camera, and 15 additional years of quilt experience can tell you!

Cheetos and other junk food

I really chuckled when I read all the comments about Cheetos. Seems like lots of us are junk food addicts at heart LOL! What I'm really grateful for is all the baked chips, including Cheetos. The Cheetos especially taste just as good as the ones with lots more fat. All we buy any more is baked chips, and I don't feel nearly so guilty eating those.

Someone asked about the 100 calorie packages - can't remember who. I like to get those for my lunches. Makes figure the WW points much easier. I didn't know Cheetos came that way however - I'll have to look for them!

Customer quilt finished, thank goodness!

I never should have stopped yesterday - I should have finished the quilt no matter how hot it was upstairs. Everything was going beautifully except for the temperature in the room. I went upstairs about 8:00 this morning to finish the quilt and everything went wrong. Stitches skipping. Thread shredding. I'd not touched the machine or changed a thing since yesterday! Longarms can be very finicky machines at times - often when it seems like nothing has changed. Struggled across about 1/3 of the quilt with the thread having shredded and broken about 5 times. Tried 3 to 4 things that changed nothing. I finally changed the needle, even though the one I was using was a titanium needle, which is supposed to last 10 times longer than regular needles, and had been used on only one small quilt. Voila! Everything back to normal. This is the first titanium needle I've ever used - so far I'm not sold! This is the second quilt this beginning quilter has made, which is a gift for a friend. I quilted her first quilt a couple weeks ago - a quilt for her baby due any day now - but forgot to take a picture of it. She's doing pretty well for a beginner!

Now I'll ride my 20 minutes on the bicycle while watching a Simply Quilts episode, then will load Broken Dishes onto the machine. Hopefully I can do it while watching the Mariners BEAT Oakland (are you listening, guys?). They beat them the first game this year, but since then have lost 11 straight to them. If they'd beat them only half of those games they'd be in first place in the west instead of last place. Argh . . . ya gotta love 'em even when you are totally disgusted with 'em!

A good quilty day!

I accomplished a lot today, and I'm heading for bed satisfied with all I did. I finished the back for Broken Dishes and it's waiting to be loaded on Gandalf as soon as the customer quilt is done. I've loaded the customer quilt and done the first pass of the pantograph. It's a very complex pantograph so one pass takes quilt a while. I stopped because it was getting too hot upstairs - I'll finish first thing in the morning.

I escaped the heat of the upstairs by taking refuge in my sewing room downstairs. I cut the two July blocks for the Jan Patek mystery and stitched them together. The block is called "Devil's Claw". I've not ever done this block before. It went together very easily and I really liked how it turned out. I may have to do a whole quilt of these some day. That catches me up on this project because the August block won't come until almost the end of the month. Tomorrow I'll do the two pieced blocks for Heirloom Stitches and prep the appliqué block. I'll also load Broken Dishes as soon as the customer quilt is done. It's supposed to be hot again in the afternoon so I probably won't get much quilting done on it. If I finish the piecing and it's too hot upstairs I'll spend the rest of the day doing appliqué on It's a Wonderful Life.

I even cut up all the scraps leftover from the two Devil's Claw blocks. I want to keep up with scraps now so all I have left to deal with is the two giant totes. One of these days . . . . All this cutting has made me realize that I don't want to do any more BOM's - at least not for a long time. I just want to use my own stash. I've used my owstashst for It's a Wonderful Life, but the other two have come with fabric. I justified it because it was such a good price - besides, it was the only way to get the pattern for the mystery. Right now I'm not planning on doing any more BOM's until I get lots and lots of my own quilts quilted and many more UFT's into finished tops.

At least that's how I'm feeling at the moment . . . . Hopefully I can hold onto this thought more than a day or two!

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Gratitudes:

1. Quilty progress
2. Safe trip to the beach for my kids
3. Cool breeze coming in the window - finally!
4. A finished quilt back
5. Baked potato chips and cheetos

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Finished!

I'm happy to report that I've finished cutting up the last smaller tote of scraps (right now I'm going to forget that the two huge totes exist). I couldn't resist taking a picture of them all lined up ready to put into their respective boxes.

And I just couldn't part with even the tiniest piece of fabric, so I made a muslin sack and put all of the little bits into it. I also put lots of little scraps of batting too. I think it is full enough. I'm going to seam the end shut, manipulate it to distribute the scraps evenly, then put on a quick cover in a more durable fabric. Presto! A pillow for Shadow (the dog) that's all his own. I hope he'll love it and start leaving our pillows alone!

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Gratitudes:

1. Fresh corn on the cob for dinner
2. Soft, fresh sugar cookies
3. Gandalf, the Proto Stitch Wizard (my longarm)
4. A good doctor's report for my daughter-in-law
5. #36 on the waiting list for our daughter and son-in-law

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Personal Challenges

Wow - people are challenging themselves all over quilting blogland! Vicki in California started it all by issuing a challenge to herself and others that there be no fabric buying in August. A bunch of us jumped on that bandwagon, then Hanne went farther by challenging herself to a daily hour of "Do it Now". Others have added no buying of books - I can't remember who all did that. Now Mary is challenging herself to not start any new projects. I think this is catching - spreading like wildfire - which in my mind is a good thing!

I'm no different than the next quilter - excitement about doing something is contagious. So I'm going to issue a challenge to myself. It occurred to me to do this when I was changing some things on my sidebar and noticed my huge list of tops waiting to be quilted. There is absolutely no reason why that many are still there, other than the fact that I've just not done them. I've chosen to piece and appliqué instead. So I'm going to be bold and challenge myself to quilt 5 of those this month. That's a real stretch goal for me, as I don't have that much time. But there are at least three of them that I can do pantographs on, which should be fast. And several of them are quite small. So here's hoping that you'll see six more crossed off as "Completed" by the first day of September. I figure if I put this out here publicly I can pretend you are all holding me accountable for this, and it might actually happen. The only big "wrench in the works" out of my control would be if I get in a bunch more customer quilts. I guess if that happens I won't complain. I know I have one coming tonight that must be finished by Tuesday. Thank goodness it's only 53" square and is being done with a pantograph!

I also took a look at my 2006 goals. Hmmm . . . probably no one remembers that there used to be 4 goals there. I took one of them off by the end of February because I'd already failed miserably. Now I can't even remember what it was! The first goal of turning friendship blocks into tops is really lagging behind - only one done. I have a sneaky feeling that may be the only one that actually gets done - there are too many other things needing finishing that are calling to me. The second goal is probably not going to happen either - unless I can count the fact that I sold and gave away all that fabric last month. I don't know why I keep setting this goal - I never make it. Maybe when I retire. It's certainly not from lack of wanting to sew! The last goal I've already reached - hooray! One out of three isn't what I'd hoped for, but it is certainly better than it might be. I'm pretty sure that I'll have crossed off more than 10 by the end of the year.

I've sure been chatty lately with long posts. Now I think I'd better get back to work, as I'm sure my 15 minutes break time has passed.

Scrap quilts

Several people have asked me whether I've decided what I'm going to make next with my scraps. That's a tough one. There are so many, many scrap quilts I want to make. I need to get back to my string quilt before it becomes a true UFO, and my string tote is overflowing. My drawers of strips are overflowing also, so I want to start working with them. And I want to try making some Mile-A-Minute blocks. And that's just a start. Since scrap quilts are my favorites I've been collecting books of scrap quilts since I first started quilting. These books are some of my favorites to take to bed with me for quilty reading in the evening (Maybe that's why I have trouble going to sleep - I keep quilting in my head!). A couple of my favorite books are Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts by Leisure Arts and American Country Scrap Quilts by Fons and Porter. (I've linked the titles to copies of the books for sale on www.half.com.) I've been drooling over quilts in these books for years. Tonight I scanned some of the quilts I like the best - all are on my "must make someday" list. I thought you might enjoy seeing them . The scraps I'm cutting are perfect for any of these quilts. The piecing is straight forward and simple, and all blocks can be drafted easily on graph paper or in a quilting software program. They are also easily resized. The hardest thing is choosing which one to do first! I'm leaning towards "Flock of Geese Medallion". I guess I'm not yet tired of working with half square triangle squares!

From the top of the post down they are "Churn Dash", "Flock of Geese Medallion", "Four Patch Star", "Kansas Troubles", "Nine Patch", "Scrappy Stars", and Jewel Box.

That's enough to keep me busy for a few years, don't you think?

Some of you have also asked me about the sizes and shapes I'm cutting all my scraps. I'll summarize that for you here. I've decided on these because they fit all the patterns I want to do. Squares 5", 4.5", 3.5", 2.5" and 2". Bricks 3.5"x 6.5", 2.5"x 4.5", 2"x 3.5", and 1.5"x 2.5". Strips 1.5" wide, 2" wide, 2.5" wide and 3.5" wide. Half square triangle squares 1.5", 2.5", 3.5" and 4.5". I also cut half square triangles from oddly shaped scraps (appliquérs have a lot of those) that will match squares of the following sizes: 2.5", 3.5" and 4.5". I have separate totes or drawers for most all of these. I also have a tote for strings and another tote for "crumbs'. I can't stand throwing away anything that's about 1" square or larger. I know many people don't save such small scraps, and that's fine for them. This is just what works for me.

It's getting very late, and my alarm will ring early tomorrow. Seems like pictures I scan always take way longer to upload than camera pictures. My scanner must be set to scan large. Not sure how to change that - I don't think we ever got a book with it as it was the floor model.

All the quilt pictures will enlarge quite a bit if you click on them. I just tried it, and noticed that I scanned almost all of them upside down. Oh well, with these quilts it really doesn't make any difference!

Thoughts

It seems like there has been a lot of "philosophical thinking" going on in blogland lately. People are asking themselves lots of questions. The most recent being (pardon me taking liberties with the Bard) "To stash or not to stash, that is the question". Shopping habits, buying habits, hoarding habits, living habits. Someone wondered if this type of thinking is stemming from the wars and uncertainty we are seeing these days. I don't know about that - there have been very few years in the history of the country that we weren't in some war or experiencing some type of unrest. I'm sure all of our minds' wheels are turning whether we've posted or not posted about the subject.

So here is your warning - I'm going to express my opinions in this post. They are my opinions and they work for me. I'm not suggesting they would work for you also - I do not want to try to sway anyone else's way of thinking. We are all different - which is a wonderful thing! If you think you might dislike some of the things I say then stop reading now. I promise my next post will be back on the subject of quilting.

On the question of stashing - I have a very large stash bordering on the obscene, and I'm not at ashamed of it. Have I bought fabric in the past that no longer appeals to me? Absolutely! Have I given a lot of it away? Most definitely! Do I think that's a bad thing? Not at all! I've given it to new quilters who haven't been able to buy fabric of their own, and that's a good thing. I've tried to do my part to pass quilting down to the next generations. I've given yards and yards and yards to the charity committee at our guild. Until I retire I don't have time to sew many charity quilts, so this is my contribution to the cause. My unused fabric is being put into quilts that are warming and cuddling children and adults in need, and that makes me feel good. Do I wish I had back the money I spent on that fabric? Not at all. I'm very happy to think about what is being done with it. Maybe that wouldn't be the case if I were charging the fabric, paying interest on the charges, lying about the buying to my husband, hiding the fabric, and spending money on fabric instead of necessities - but I'm doing none of those things. I am blessed to have a good paying job and can afford to buy the fabric I want to use, so why shouldn't I? None of the fabric is going to waste. I'm helping keep a valuable resource - our local quilt shops - in business. And my kids don't have to deal with it if something happens to me - I've willed it to my quilting buddies first, then anything they don't want goes to the guild for charity quilts.

Here are the reasons I think it's important for me to have a stash:

1. I'm very impatient. When I'm in the middle of the "throes of creativity" I don't want to stop to run to the quilt shop. Especially when I often work at night and on the weekend when quilt shops aren't open. Especially when my favorite shops are a hour drive in any direction. If my shelves look like I'm running a little quilt shop it's because I am. I do a huge amount of "shopping" in my own stash - much more "shopping" than I do at a quilt shop. My friends shop in my stash also, and I shop in theirs - we love to share that way.
2. I don't make quilts that are "matchy matchy" and are from a limited number of fabrics. They may not all be scrap quilts, but almost all of them have at least 40 to 50 fabrics and usually many more. Can you imagine how a quilt shop would hate me if I always came in, lined 40 or 50 or 100 bolts on their counter and said "give me an eighth of a yard of every one of these? It would take forever to cut, and I'd feel obligated to help them put all the bolts away. It would probably take at least 4-5 hours for one shopping trip for fabric for a scrap quilt. I'd rather be sewing!
3. I love to have a huge palette of colors, shades, values, textures and prints from which to work. Fabrics change from year to year, and what's available one year isn't available the next. All through the late 80's and early 90's the palette in the shops was cool. You couldn't find a warm, buttery yellow, vibrant gold or pulsing orange to save your life. Sometime during the 90's the fashion changed from cool to warm. For a long time you couldn't find cool ice blues, forest greens, or blue reds. At that time I was thrilled to have them available in my stash. I also bought lots of the warm colors, because my maturing stash was primarily cool because that's all that was available. Medium tones are what's usually around. When the watercolor craze started pale florals were almost impossible to find. Right now it's the deep darks that I can't find easily. I love to use navy and midnight blue in my quilts, and have to search everywhere for it. When I find it I buy at least 6-8 yards or more. What I used for the border on my Broken Dishes took almost all I had left, and it took me over 6 months to find that piece. Now I'll have to start looking again. Dark black prints are very hard to find also. When I see one I grab it, and it never goes to waste.

Do I want to control my shopping? Absolutely, for several reasons. I want to retire soon. My shelves are full. I have more than enough fabric to last me the rest of my life. Does this mean I'll stop buying fabric? No. I need to keep track of what I need and what I don't need. This is one reason I like to sort by color - it's easy to see what I'm getting low on. I know I don't need to buy medium blues for another 10 years, but I have very few purples and oranges. Will I buy those colors without knowing what I'll use them for? You bet - because I know they'll be used eventually. I estimate I don't know the final purpose of 95% of the fabric I buy, and for me that is just fine. When something new comes out - like all the Civil War fabrics that have been coming the last 2-3 years - will I buy it if I absolutely love it? Yes, because I won't have anything else like that in my stash.

I consider my stash to be like an artist's paint box full of tubes of paint. Would anyone ever dare tell a painter that he can't buy any more paint until he or she uses what is there? Not at all. If I don't have the "fabric paint" that I need to create the wonderful quilt that is singing in my mind and heart, then I won't hesitate to buy the fabric I need to bring it into the real world.

The beauty of quilting is that there is something for all of us. Whether we are a quilt artist, a quilt artisan, or someone who creates quilts simply for the joy of creating them - there is a place for each of us. We are all of equal importance in building the heritage of this wonderful art of quilting. I shudder every time I hear someone say "she isn't a real quilter because she doesn't ______." Or "she doesn't make real quilts because ______." Fill in the blanks yourself - you know all the different things we hear. The quilt police don't exist, and all that matters is that you make quilts that you yourself love no matter what anyone else thinks.

To me living simply doesn't mean cooking everything from scratch, growing our own food, or anything like that. To me, living simply is a state of mind. Being comfortable in the shoes you are wearing whatever they are. Not buying things to try to find happiness, but at the same time (if you want) collecting possessions you love that give you joy, bring a smile to your face whenever you see them and/or use them, and just being content with life. Whatever life you choose. My life is right for me, but I'd never expect it to be right for someone else. Each person must choose what is right for them, while at the same time never judging others for the life they choose. I have no right to judge anyone else because I have not walked in their shoes nor do I know what it is really like to be them.

I don't know whether growing older makes it easier to be comfortable and happy with one's life, but that's how it's worked for me. It's taken me almost 60 years to get to this place, and it feels so good to have "arrived". I wish the same comfort and happiness for each of you, whatever that means to you.

Another tote emptied . . .

Or at least in the process of being emptied. I THINK this is the last small tote of scraps and little pieces. I don't think there are any more hiding in the room anywhere. This one had lots more of the big squares in it, plus the pieces I took off my fabric shelves and baskets when I was sorting for the yard sale. They have large chunks out of them and are of oddball size, so I'm cutting them up to make storing them easier. As you can see I'm pressing first - still have to press the pile in the front. I hope to have them all cut up by the end of the weekend.

This will leave only these two big containers - the worst of all. Fabrics are totally crammed into each of them. I think I'll wait for awhile before I deal with them. I'll sew up some of the things I've already cut, plus my drawers full of strips. And since it's now August I need to get back to my BOM's. I was caught up in June but I'm not caught up any longer!