Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Monthly Archives: March 2014


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Sunday Stash Report and Goal Check: 3/30/14

The Stash this week:  Nothing in and nothing out.  I felt like I had a finish when I completed the gray and yellow top (140 3″ squares), but I won’t count it until I quilt it.  Good news:  I found the perfect backing for it on sale at Fabric Shack.  Bad news:  It wasn’t the only thing I ordered.  This new biweekly fabric ordering needs to stop, but I needed some navy for a commission…Yeah.

This week:  +0 yards,  -0 yards
YTD:  +44.25 yards,  -65 yards
Net stash used 2014:  -20.75 yards

 

March Goals

1. Assemble Disappearing Pinwheels top.
2. Quilt DP quilt.  Finished, and mailed off for Oso, WA.
3. Make baby quilt for Etsy shop.  Hey, I got on a roll and made three! Chevron Strings, and the Construction Quilts.

4. Make floral quilt for Etsy shop.  Nope.  But I’ll be finished with four pillow covers before the month is over, so that’s something.

 

April Goals

1. Quilt gray and yellow quilt.

2. Make commissioned baby quilt in navy.

3. Make a floral quilt.

4. Design a block for my Slow Quilt.  I’m collecting the fabrics.

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Also, I found this book at Half Price Books this week.  When I said, “curves”, I was thinking of something simple like Drunkard’s Path (and that’s in here, but fancy).  This is very advanced.  Right now, I think I’m most interested in the bias curves, but the paper pieced stuff is interesting to consider.

 

How did you do in March?

I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

 


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Chevron Strings Finished

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Late last week I finished up my baby-sized string quilt.  Then one day I dashed out between the snow and the sleet to take a few pictures.

Sherbet Strings

The blocks are 9 inches, pieced on paper.  The sherbet colors are all strings from my bins, but the cream floral was yardage.  It was a good use for  an older piece of fabric, and I had just enough.

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This was inspired by the batik backing I had left over from Disappearing Pinwheels.

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I stitched between all the blocks with the walking foot.  Then I flipped it over and quilted all the dragonflies, using white Sulky rayon in the bobbin. (Well, I skipped the side-view dragonflies, because I found they didn’t look like anything identifiable from the front.)  The Sulky isn’t very heavy, so the design on the front is subtle, but I like it that way.  It’s there if you look for it.

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I used a green with a variegated stripe for the binding.  No new techniques this time, except for a different layout for the string blocks.

Hope you are enjoying the satisfaction of finishing things this week.

I’m linking up with TGIFF and Whoop Whoop Friday.  (Please DO NOT go over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, because *I* want to win her great giveaway!)

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March-A-Long

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March is winding down, so I wanted to file my report for March-A-Long, #marchalong, hosted by Darla at The Scientific Quilter.  I’m pleased to say that I’ve done very well this year at sewing daily.  The cold weather may deserve some of the credit.  Staying in to sew was most inviting.  So far, I’ve only missed sewing one day, and I did put out a quilty blog post that day, so that counts.

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These pillow cover tops are cut from a vintage tablecloth.  I was waiting for backing fabric, which has arrived, so I should get them made.

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While waiting, I cut up my scraps from one of the construction baby quilts into 3 1/2″ squares and pulled many more from my scrap bins.  This was my first layout.  It felt harsh, and like a checkerboard.

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I cut some more squares from Kona Ash and some pale yellow prints to soften it up.  The finished quilt will be twin sized, but this gives the idea.  I like this much better.

Hope you are doing something quilty every day.

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I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and March-A-Long at The Scientific Quilter.


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Sunday Stash Report 3/23/14

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Some new fabric was added this week, but can you blame me?  I need these luscious solids  from Fabric Shack!  Actually, I did need a gray for a project, and it’s silly to pay for shipping on two yards of fabric, right?  Even though they have really low shipping.

And I finished another baby quilt, all from stash.

This week:  +11 yards,  -2.5 yards
YTD:  +44.25 yards,  -65 yards
Net stash used 2014:  -20.75 yards

Hope you’re sewing your stash.  I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Constructing Some Baby Quilts

Between Christmas and New Years I found three pieces of great kids’ construction fabric on deep sale at eQuilter, and I couldn’t resist.  I kept the patchwork to a minimum so I wouldn’t spoil these wonderful prints.

Here’s one:

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The very orange accent quilting was with Superior’s New Brites (30wt.)

And this is the other:

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The new thing I learned to do on these was to make a binding with a flange, all one piece, finished by machine.  It was easy to do, and I love the effect.  It took about twice as long as a regular binding, but was a lot quicker than finishing by hand (as if I do that!).  I thought these simple quilts could use the extra detail.  I lost the link that was shared on Twitter, but here’s one very similar.   Nadine of DreamWeavers Quilts shared a link to a tutorial at Fresh Off the Frame.  I cut my accent strip 1 3/4″ wide.   I also had better results trimming the seam allowance after I joined the two colors together.  It pressed and handled better for me.  By the second one I felt like a pro.  I’ll definitely use this again.

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I had a lot of fun with these two little quilts.  They’re for sale in my Etsy shop.

Hope you’re enjoying your finishes!  I’m linking up to TGIFF.

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Strings

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This week I finished two construction-themed baby quilts (pictures coming!), and started a project making throw pillow covers from a vintage tablecloth.  That stalled because I didn’t have the fabric I wanted for the backs, so I ordered some (sorry, Stash!).  While waiting for that, I started some string blocks using the trimmings of dragonfly batik from the back of the Pinwheels.  Yes, some of the pansy fabric got in there, too.  This will be another baby quilt, with the blocks set to make zig zags.  I have enough of the batik left for the backing, too.  Yum!

Hope your projects are progressing nicely.
I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday http://www.freshlypieced.com/2014/03/wip-wednesday-stacking-cutting-stitching.html?m=1 at Freshly Pieced.


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Sunday Stash Report: 3/16/14

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It was a good week for the Stash numbers.  I used 9.5 yards (all from stash!) on the Disappearing Pinwheel quilt, and no fabric was purchased.

This week:  +0 yards,  -9.5 yards
YTD:  +30.25 yards,  -62.5 yards
Net stash used 2014:  -32.25 yards

Hope you were able to sew yesterday for National Quilting Day, and that your Stash is diminishing nicely.

I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Pinwheel Finish

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I finished the Disappearing Pinwheel quilt this weekend.  This was a quilt-along we did on Twitter, during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Sew-In, using a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I think A.J. talked us into it.  Not sure.  See other Twilters’ versions here.  I made it entirely from stash, so for that reason alone it was a good project.  Those aren’t wrinkles, they are shadows from bare tree branches.

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If the last project was Cotton Candy, then this is Orange Sherbet.  I used six (I think)  different large floral prints and a light orange blender fabric.  Also, I transposed the center pinwheels, though I hadn’t planned to originally, so they don’t contrast much.  With all the bias, it was a bit wonky and wavy and puffy, so I quilted it all over with feathers.  There are feather circles in every circular area, hearts and designs in the diamonds created by the corner triangles, and continuously around the border.

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I marked a little for the hearts, but that was it.  This quilt was a bit large and heavy to drag around under the machine, so my feathers aren’t perfect, but it was good practice, and it really tamed the top.  I’m amazed at how flat and square it turned out.

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One of my favorite parts is the backing.  It’s an amazing dragonfly batik, thick and soft, and dyed like rainbow sherbet.  The orange Bottom Line thread I used in the top and bottom blended nicely in some places and showed more in other spots.

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I don’t think I would make this pattern again, but it did come together pretty quickly.  It was fun seeing how the blocks were turning out as we were working together.

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See lots of other finishes at Whoop Whoop Friday, and TGIFF, which is at Quilt Matters today.


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Sunday Stash Report: 3/9/14

1940s Glass Iron, Wheaton Arts Center, Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ

1940s Glass Iron, Wheaton Arts Center, Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ

 

A boring report today:  nothing in, nothing out.  Scrapitude counted on last week’s, and I’m in the middle of quilting Disappearing Pinwheels, so there we are.  Still, the numbers are encouraging.

 

This week:  +0 yards,  -0 yards
YTD:  +30.25 yards,  -53 yards
Net stash used 2014:  -22.75

 

Hope you’re bustin’ your stash.

I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Scrapitude is Finished!

Last fall, Sandy‘s friend, Charlotte, started a mystery quilt named Scrapitude with their guild.  Sandy asked to post the steps on her blog, and the rest is history.  Her readers and many of us on Twitter (#Twilters)  grabbed our scraps and got started cutting.  This was my first mystery quilt, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew that Charlotte does beautiful work with scraps.  I had trouble letting go of control of colors, and I didn’t completely, but this is the scrappiest thing I’ve made.  And it turned out pretty well.

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I started with these.

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They looked like this all cut up.  I decided to use several shell pinks for the background pieces.

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From those pieces we made these blocks.

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And now I have this quilt (80″ square).  Yes, it’s very pink.  I think the colors work really well together, but I hadn’t realized it would be quite so …pink.  It is cheery and fun to look at, with all the different fabrics.  It will live in my guest room, so people will get it in small doses.

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I stitched the stars in the ditch, with an orange peel in the centers, using an “old rose” colored Bottom Line thread.  I quilted the whole pink background with an unmarked orange peel motif in pale pink.  I had a lot of fun with that part, and I really like the texture.

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The back is shell pink and olive batik.

It was lots of fun to sew these with everyone else, but the best part is seeing how differently they are all turning out.  Keep checking this Flickr group to see the progress.

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I’m linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.