Heirloom Stitches, designed by Lori Smith

Here is my finished Heirloom Stitches quilt top.  It's been finished except for the top and bottom borders for over two years.  This is the first thing I finished once Emily's quilt top was complete.  Now this is hanging in the "Finished Quilt Tops" closet waiting its turn to be quilted.

I love Lori Smith patterns!  I have many of them in my files - all quilts that I really want to do.  So many choices - so little time!

Back once again

I was so glad to be back blogging, and now I disappeared again for a few days. I either had a bad relapse of the bug I was fighting or I caught a new virus, as I've been pretty sick since Thursday. The past week has been rough for most of our family - most everyone seemed to have some sort of relapse. All the adults that is - Joseph has been just fine.

I really didn't feel like sewing for several days. I had such hopes of finishing the applique on the second Heirloom Stitches border, but it didn't happen. I finally felt like sewing again a couple days ago, and that's when things started to happen.

Today I finished that second border, so I sewed the first two onto the Heirloom Stitches center. I took the feathered star off the design wall so I could get a good picture. I'm so happy with how this has turned out! The applique is simple, except for all those big jagged leaves. The other two borders are basically the same. I sure hope they can be done by the end of this month.

I headed back to Primitive Thimble in Battle Ground to find some new reds for the feathered star. Even though things are really picked over - not much left due to the moving sale - I found some nice things. So I washed and pressed them today, so they are ready and waiting to be cut into outside setting triangles. While the quilt was off the design wall I sewed the first part of it all together. Amazing how doing that little makes the goal of a finished top so much closer. I wanted a primarily red and brown quilt when I first started this one, so I'm thrilled you all encouraged me to stick with that decision. It's now pinned back onto the wall, with other four finished blocks pinned into position. Tomorrow I hope to start prepping those last four center blocks. You may notice that the lilies are now growing rightside up instead of sideways. Jan's original design has them sideways, but I decided I wanted mine growing the way God intended them to grow!

This is the first time I've rolled the new pressing station into the hall so I could use the full design wall. It worked just as well as I hoped it would - except for the fact that I can't roll the cabinet myself. No matter - that's what sweet, understanding and caring husbands are for!

Appliqueing I will go

It's truly amazing how much applique one can finish when one does nothing else all day for several days. Just so you have an idea how much time I'm talking about - during the week when the virus was the worst I listened to unabridged versions of Pillars of the Earth and Shadow of the Wind, plus a Nevada Barr mystery thrown in between the two epics, appliqueing the entire time - almost 70 hours total.

First I tackled the third block of Times Remembered, which I prepped at the end of last December. The pieces were large, so it didn't take that long to finish it. Now three blocks are done, with six more to prep and finish.

Next I got out the two Carolina Lily blocks for Jan Patek's Feathered Star - Girl Gang 2003-2004. Those took a little longer since there were two of them.

My fourth applique block was the last block I had prepped from my Mid-Century Album class. I really loved how it turned out. This is another that I prepped at the end of last year. It was so much fun choosing the fabrics for this one. Now I need to prep a bunch more blocks so progress on this quilt can continue.

Lastly I pulled out the borders for Heirloom Stitches and started working on them again. I finished one border and now have the second border almost completed. When I finish it I'll sew those two onto the quilt top and take a picture to post. I'm sure most all of you have forgotten what this quilt looks like. I'm determined to finish the last two borders this month also so I'll have a finished quilt top by the end of the month.

Before I started the applique marathon I did finish the piecing I'd been doing before I got sick. I finished nine more blocks for the Hourglass Quilt - for a total of 13 blocks. Then I tucked that project away again, as I didn't have the energy to piece.

All this applique has really gotten me into the mood for hand stitching again - the virus effectively ended my desire to piece for the time being. Since my oldest WISP's are applique projects I guess that's a good thing!

A little sewing

In spite of the heat I am getting a very small amount of sewing done. At first glance this quilt top doesn't look any farther along than it did the last time I showed it. Note, however, that I've finished the inner border of half-square triangle squares. I thought this would take a long time to finish, but it really didn't. I sewed the triangles yesterday as well as pressing and trimming some of them. Today I pressed and trimmed the rest, constructed the borders and attached them to the quilt. It was a slow process because using a hot iron in the heat we've been having is awful - hence the reason nothing else got done.

Monday report

I hope everyone had a good day yesterday with their favorite dad - whether that is your own father, your husband, your son or a combination of all three. Our day was quiet - most Father's day's are around here. Fred isn't one for much celebration. He couldn't play golf due to a tournament on the course so he worked out and then I took him to breakfast. Then he watched the US Open golf tournament while I finished the customer quilt. About 3:00 or so Rick, Rebecca, and Joseph came over and I fixed dinner for everyone. Crock pot roast beef - easy and delicious!

I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but I've not being doing Sunday stash reports. They just don't seem to fit my quilting persona, as most everything I do is made from stash. I rarely buy fabric for a particular quilt, unless it's a kit. And since I do so much that is very scrappy, it's hard to measure what I've used. I do think I'm still behind however, as I just purchased three BOLTS of fabric last month LOL! A pre-1830's print for the back of my medallion, and both a Chinese red and amber (looks like cheddar) bolt of Kona cotton. That's 55 yards of fabric right there - whoops! I'm just not very good at this stashbusting stuff!

I'm still focusing at least some of my time on UFO's - the list is gradually going down. Remember this quilt? Since I'm totally out of handwork - not like me at all! - I started preparing the applique for the border of Heirloom Stitches. I need something to do at Tangled Threads meetings as well as during TV time. I also loaded the double Irish chain on Gandalf - that's the quilt in the first picture of this post. I've never tried machine quilting a quilt that's been partially hand quilted - I'm curious to see how this is going to work.

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Gratitudes:
1. Fresh vegetables from the farmers' Saturday Market
2. A new pedicure
3. Sunny, warm weather is finally here!

Sunday Success

My goal for today was to finish the last appliqué block for Heirloom Stitches and finish putting the top together. Success! I finished just a few minutes ago. Because the border on this quilt involves so much appliqué I'm putting it away for awhile. (Here is a link to the pattern in case anyone wants to see what the border looks like.) There are other projects that need to be a higher priority than this right now.

I have several charity quilts to quilt, as well as three customer quilts. I need to get going on Joseph's quilt. I'm going to do machine appliqué on that one because I want it to wear as long as possible.

My take along hand appliqué project will be blocks for my mid-century medallion.

If I want a break from that I'll do the border appliqué on It's a Wonderful Life. I've waited long enough to finish it. I didn't particularly care for the appliqué in the pattern so I'm going to design something of my own. It's time to swallow my fear of designing and just do it! I guess I've never posted a picture of that almost finished top - I could find one anyway - so here it is. The borders are sewn on - I just need to do some appliqué on them.

Finally I need to finish at least one UFO so I don't have to pay a fat quarter penalty at guild on May 4th - not to mention avoiding becoming UFO queen on the Stashbusters list. (In this case queen is NOT a good thing to be!) One of my charity quilts is also on my UFO list, so I can accomplish a two-for-one if I just get that one quilted, bound and labeled.

We had a wonderful visit with Jeremy, Chelsea and Sophie yesterday afternoon. This is the first time she's been awake during our entire visit. Apparently she is already sleeping almost 8 hours at night - amazing! Neither of our kids slept through the night until they were at least 8-9 months old. Yesterday she'd been awake since 9 a.m. and was still awake when we left at 6:00 p.m. She's definitely taking after her dad - he didn't sleep much as a baby and gave up naps entirely before he was two years old! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera!

Friday night I spent a great evening with Cher at the artist's reception for her quilt guild. The featured artist was Judy Hopkins. I always thought Judy lived in Alaska year round, but apparently she lives in Oregon for four months every winter and belongs to the same guild as Cher. Judy has written 16 quilt books that feature rotary cut quilts and clear, easy-to-follow directions. The books she hopes will be her major legacy are her three block books - Around the Block, Around the Block Again, and Once More Around the Block. Each block features 200 traditional blocks with rotary cutting instructions for making them in 6 different sizes. Whenever I need to make a pieced block for a swap I grab one of these books. Judy is also the creater of the Scrapmaster ruler which for years has been a marvelous tool for cutting up my scraps. There were quite a few of Judy's quilts hanging on display, and we received a guided tour from Judy in which we learned the story behind each quilt. It was a delightful evening - made even more wonderful by the wine and great food available to everyone.

Weekend sewing

As I said in my last post, I didn't get much sewing done this weekend. I will show you what I did accomplish - not much but still very satisfying.

From top to bottom:

First finished mid-century album block

Last Heirloom Stitches block - house appliqué is almost finished

Pieced Pine - not the best picture but gives you the idea

Mystery Block - not the best picture either - I think my camera setting was wrong

Quilt center - all but the final appliqué block

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Easter yesterday. I cooked dinner for Rick and Rebecca and we watched the DVD of their new son. They fly to Guatemala on Wednesday for their first and only visit with him. The next 4-7 months will be long for all of us. I wish I could show you a picture of him - he is so cute! - but we aren't allowed to post pictures of him on the Internet until they bring him home and he's really theirs.

Two days of progress

I may have a B+ personality according to one of the recent tests that's going around blogland, but I am obsessive about a few things - and quilting tops that list. Sunday I didn't even get dressed - didn't want to take the time away from my stitching. Yesterday after work was the same. So here are the results of one day plus about 6 hours of stitching.


All the rest of the blocks for Heirloom Stitches are cut out, except for a few background pieces for the "Pieced Tree" block. The last appliqué block is all glued and prepped for stitching except for the house piece which needs to have the windows and door done on it first. The Morning Star block - which goes in the bottom right corner - is finished. The Card Tricks block which goes above the Morning Star has only the last few seams to be stitched. The center of the "Mystery Block" is under the machine needle, and the rest is waiting to be stitched together. If you look at the pictures to the left from the top down you will see all these in order.



I also have the first block of my "Mid-Century Album Quilt" half done. This is one of the 8" blocks, and was the in-class project for the March class. I started the stitching while watching the Seattle Mariners King Felix mow down the hapless Oakland A's batters to earn a victory in the first game of the season. (Let's home this isn't a repeat of last year when we proceeded to beat them in the first game then lose to them in 17 of the other 18 times we faced them.) As the game progressed I watched more closely and stitched less - hopefully I can get the block finished at Tangled Threads tonight. I posted a picture of my block to the left, which should allow you to see some of my appliqué method. If you'd like more info and pictures about how I appliqué and a list of my hints click here.

Appliquéing and babeling

I got such a big chuckle out of Journey's post about babeling - I just had to try it myself! So in honor of our new grandson I translated the first paragraph of yesterday's post to Spanish and then back to English. Here is the translation from yesterday's post:

Voluble Quilter - the name thy is Patti! Here I have been joining the pieces upon a storm of my remainders and have been obtaining much of the way to quilt of the charity. But everything what takes is a little deflection and before it knows it I it is vagando under a entirely diverse trajectory. I blamed it in a block of appliqué that I had to finish for ramilletes and the points, and the great sensation to move a project from the list of UFT to the information written in thin paper enumerates.

It's no wonder people come here from foreign countries and can't understand us - even when they can speak some English. Language has always fascinated me - the way the same words can have so many different meanings in different contexts. Throw in our American slang and an English-is-my-second-language person is sure to be lost.

Today I've been watching Season 3 of MI-5 and appliquéing the next to last appliqué block for Heirloom Stitches. Now that I've finished it all I have left are the December blocks, and then I'll be able to sew the center together. Here are all the blocks I've made laid out on the floor as they will be sewn together. I love the colors and fabrics Homestead Hearth choose for this BOM!

Fickle quilter . . . .

Thy name is Patti! Here I've been piecing up a storm from my scraps and accomplishing much in the way of charity quilting. But all it takes is one little detour and before I know it I'm wandering down an entirely different path. I blame it on the one appliqué block I had to finish for Posies and Points, and the great feeling of moving a project from the UFT list to the flimsies list.

So what am I doing now? Well, I'm back to appliqué and Heirloom Stitches. I've not touched this project since last year. When I put it away I still had appliqué to complete on two November blocks and all of December's blocks to make, plus the border. I'm now working on the last November block - the worktable looks a little different when I'm doing appliqué than when I'm piecing, doesn't it? Fred spend the evening upstairs watching hockey so I put the last two episodes of the second season of MI5 in the DVD player in the sewing room and sat appliquéing using the good light on my featherweight table. I've pulled all the completed blocks out of the closet and hung them in plain sight on the door where they can motivate me to finish. I'm hoping to get the rest of the pieced blocks done this weekend as well as finishing this block, and maybe do the prep on the last of the appliqué blocks.

I also dug out my pre-1830's medallion to see if it would start talking to me. I was at a loss last fall as far as the next border - it just wasn't telling me what it needed. So I pinned it up on my design wall and looked through the choices for the next border in "Lesson 9". Wouldn't you know it - it started talking to me immediately and told me just what it needs. And I'm happy to report it's something quite simple that shouldn't take much time at all. That's a good thing - I want to finish this top also because I've already started on my first block for the mid-century album quilt.

In the meantime the fabrics for Joseph's quilt have been set aside. I'll get back to that very soon - it's just not what is calling to me this weekend.

"Preparation Days"

Tuesday afternoon I'm flying to Indianapolis, Indiana for a conference for work. I absolutely hate to fly, so I'm hoping that stitching will keep me busy enough to make the time pass quickly. When I've tried stitching in the past I've just been too nervous - reading seems to work better. But I'm not in the middle of any engrossing books right now - just finished "Stash Envy" by Lisa Boyer - so I'm going to try stitching again. I'm behind on almost all my BOM's; this will give me some time to catch up. So yesterday I prepped 8 different applique blocks.

Here are the blocks I prepped for "Its A Wonderful Life" - Jan Patek's 2005-2006 Girl Gang quilt. It's a typical Jan Patek quilt - lots of different sized blocks and a lot of appliqué. I'm doing this one totally from stash. I'm sticking to her basic color scheme, but changing it a bit. Hers goes from light to dark from the top of the quilt to the bottom - the picture isn't the best - but mine is going to be more even in color value.

This is the second block of the Jan Patek and Cherie Ralston 2006 mystery quilt. I really like the reverse appliqué on the flower blossom. The other piece of fabric is there under the flower fabric - it will show when I do the appliqué.


Here are the blue berries and all the flower centers for the next block. I like to use the mylar circle method. I run a gathering stitch around the outside of each fabric circle. I pull the gathering thread tightly, encasing the mylar circle inside. This makes a very smooth circle. I spray them well with fabric sizing, then press until dry. Once they are cool I release the basting stitches and take out the mylar circle. Works like a charm - perfect berries and flower centers!

Here are the next two blocks for Heirloom stitches. The flower centers go on these two blocks. I've had the basket block pieced since last weekend, but am just now getting to the appliqué preparation.

Finally I thought I'd show you the eagle block. The banner is finished. I had to rip out about 6 applique stitches to change the placement - took about 10 seconds. Seems like it took forever to place the three parts just right - especially the part in the eagle's mouth, and get it stitched down "just so" with tiny stitches. I heaved a big sigh of relief when that was over. Doing the rest of the appliqué will seem like a "piece of cake" after than part!

Confession is good for the soul

I admit it. I am a ruler junkie. I love rotary rulers. All kinds of rotary rulers. I have no idea how many I have. They are hanging all over my sewing room wall - two deep in a couple places. I have three slotted ruler holders too. One sits on the end of my cutting table, and two smaller ones sit on one of my storage carts. I need to toss some of them because the corners are nicked from dropping and reckless driving with my cutter, but that would be like tossing an old friend. I used to use Omnigrid rulers because I could see the yellow and black markings so well, but now I'm gradually replacing them with Creative Grid rulers. I'm in love with these rulers because they have little "sticky dots" built right onto the back of the ruler to prevent it from slipping. As the arthritis in my hands developed I found it harder and harder to hold onto a ruler while cutting, and these rulers have solved the problem. It was just like Christmas this week - I got three new ones! Three squares - a 2 1/2", a 3 1/2", and a 16 1/2". (Don't you love 30% off sales?) I firmly believe that "the right tool makes the job easy", and "good tools will last a lifetime". I like to use a ruler that's just the right size for what I'm cutting, so I don't have to try to hold down any extra ruler. I figure if I'm going to spend much of my leisure time quilting I might as well have the best tools I can afford, right?

Any other ruler junkies out there? Time to confess. What's your favorite ruler?

I've been doing mostly appliqué for months now, but the urge to piece has been getting stronger and stronger. Both the Heirloom Stitches and the new Jan Patek mystery are perfect projects for me this year, because they have some of both. I spent yesterday piecing the first three blocks of Heirloom Stitches, and it was so enjoyable! There's just something about hanging a new, beautiful block on my design wall that fills my heart with joy. I keep ducking back into the room for another look. I love the way the colors and designs of the fabric play off each other - sometimes subtle and sometimes with much contrast. Many of you will think I'm nuts, but I love to piece complicated blocks. Sure, I love to piece simple ones too, but there's something very satisfying about getting dozens of little triangles, squares and other shapes to fit together into an aesthetically pleasing whole. These three blocks certainly gave me that. The simplest of the blocks has 28 pieces, and the most complicated has 87 pieces. They aren't big blocks either - two 9" and one 6". It took most of the day to cut them out and put them together, but that hardly matters. As Patty says in her Morning Ramble, many of us are rushing through life at too fast a pace anyway. It's so rewarding to savor each step of the block construction - the way the fabrics feel, the way they play off each other, and feel the joy of seeing all the smaller parts slowly come together to make a beautiful whole.

People who don't quilt just don't know what they are missing, do they?