Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art


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Sunday Stash Report: 4/27/14

Hello!  First and formost, the new phone arrived and all is well!  It’s a Samsung S4, except it’s red (!),  it takes fabulous photos, and loads all the wonderful Android apps, so I’m happy here.  I knew you’d want to know.

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On the fabric front, progress was not made.  While I used 7 1/2 yards to make a beach themed quilt, I bought 9 yards from Fabric.com.  It was the oddest thing.  I was attempting to click a link, and I missed, and got Fabric.com, where there was a sale and free shipping.  It felt like destiny.  It’s good stuff, don’t you think?  And most is designated for planned quilts.  Yes, I am working on destashing.  Yes, I will do better.  Next week.

This week: +9 yards, -7.5 yards
YTD: +61.75 yards, -93.5 yards
Net stash used 2014: -31.75 yards

That’s still about a third of the way to 100 yards, isn’t it?  I’m okay with it.

Are you doing any better controlling your stash?  I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Sunday Stash Report: Happy Easter!

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It’s a beautiful Easter morning here in Ohio.  I hope all of you have a wonderful day.

 

The stash numbers are good this week.  I used 7 1/2 yards for the string quilt, and nothing was added.

 

This week: +0 yards, -7.5 yards
YTD: +52.75 yards, -86 yards
Net stash used 2014: -33.25 yards

 

In other news, I’m in day 3 of smartphone withdrawal.  My BlackBerry Q10 (Q for Quilter, right?) wanted me to update the operating system, and when I did, it froze up, and now makes a pretty good paper weight.  It is covered under the warranty, so I could have had it replaced for free, but I decided to change phones.  I’ve been a happy BlackBerry devote’ from the beginning, but I suppose it is time to get off that ship.  It’s kind of like Beta tapes:  we were better, but the industry passed us by.  I’m coveting Android apps and continuity with my tablet, so I’ve ordered a Samsung S4.  It will be here…in just…a few days…  Ack!

I don’t like to think of myself as having to be constantly connected to technology.  I spend much less time in front of a computer than many people, but I am really missing the phone.  The last two years we have taken vacations that took us out of cell and data range for many days at a time, and I was fine with that.  I wasn’t trying to quilt, or fussing much with the blog.  The camera still worked.  DH and I were together, so I knew he wasn’t trying to reach me, and neither was anyone else.  We just communed with nature and had a great time.  I mean, the national parks post the weather forecast right in the visitors centers.  We were good.

But home is different.  I like having the whole world in the palm of my hand.  It might be the camera I miss most.  I was trying to lay out a quilt top.  How was I supposed to tell if the colors are balanced without taking a photo?  I muddled through the old fashioned way, but then I couldn’t share the results with the Twilters.  Or the Easter card I got with fabric bunnies. Or the new box of thread.  A picture is easily worth 144 characters.

I’ve tried to remind myself that many famous quilters were successful without anything remotely electronic.  Jane Sickles, for instance, made a pretty spectacular quilt.  But face it, if she could have, Jane would have Tweeted pics to her friends of each new block she finished.  And snapped a few to see if that border was going to work.  Yes, she would have.

Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.  And I’ll be much better by Tuesday…or Wednesday.  Don’t expect a post then.  I’ll be busy trying to get my life back into that little plastic thing.

 

Enjoy this spring day!  Hope you’re using that stash!  I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

 

 


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Another String Finish

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Lately, it seems as though all I do is show you finishes.  One day soon, I hope to have some more interesting content, but I haven’t had much energy lately, and it seems like all I can do to post occasionally about what I’m making.  So many of you are more inspirational!  I’ll try to get back there.

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I had fun setting and quilting my favorite string blocks in a new way.  The gray is Kona Ash.  The thread is Coats and Clarks, an older spool that was the perfect colors.  It worked out well that I have this to add to my Etsy shop, because a few days ago I sold the aqua and gray chevron quilt that I had there.  It went to Denmark, which seems fun.  My quilts have been so many places I haven’t yet!

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I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.  The quilting could be more defined. (I think it’s better in person than in these photos.)  What if I had had the patience to use decorative stitches in the solid areas?  Hmmm.

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Hope you’ve had some good finishes lately.  I’m linking up with Finish It Up Friday, at Crazy Mom Quilts.

 


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Sunday Stash Report: 4/13/04

Krissi

Krissi is pleased that no new fabric came in this week, but 9 1/2 yards went out as I finished the Yellow and Gray quilt.  We’re both spending more time outside, now that the weather is getting better.

This week: +0 yards, -9.5 yards
YTD: +52.75 yards, -78.5 yards
Net stash used 2014: -25.75 yards

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

 

 

 


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Construction Related Finishes

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This week I finished this twin-sized quilt in colors I love.  It began with the scraps from one of the Construction Baby Quilts, supplemented with squares from my 3 1/2″ bin.  Then I added a bit from yardage to fill it out and have enough for the diagonal effect.  I’m very happy with the result.

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To my surprise, when I searched for backing fabric, I found a print on gray from the same line as the original fabric (“Under Construction” by Kanvas Color), and on sale!

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The quilting is in the ditch between every square, and then some diagonals across the quilt.  Yes, there is a bit of Mirror Ball Dot!

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Also, I found the perfect fabric for binding in my stash, orange with yellow stripes.  This reminds me that I’ve wanted to mention when I solve my quilt design problems:  as I go to sleep at night!  In this case, I planned to bind the quilt in a solid orange, but it was getting dark in my studio, so I thought I would wait for morning to choose the right fabric.  Then, as I was falling asleep, I remembered the perfect fabric for the binding.  Extraordinarily bright, I had passed it up many times on other projects.  Now, was it in the Orange drawer or the Stripes drawer?  The Orange, I thought.  And, in the morning, there it was!  Often when I find myself at a crossroads on a quilt (or a brick wall), I consciously think about it as I fall asleep.  More often than not, answers become clear to me, and they are usually the ones that make it into the quilts.  When do you do your best design work?

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Here’s my finish from last week.  The red, white, and black construction baby quilt caught the attention of a customer on Etsy, who special ordered one in solid navy.  It did turn out very nautical, didn’t it?  I quilted it all over with navy Bottom Line.  That meant that the thin dark thread also went over areas of red, white, and light blue.  I thought for a while about the thread color.  Other than possibly using smoke Monopoly, I couldn’t come up with anything I liked better.  I’m very happy with the way it came out, so I guess navy was fine.

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With all that navy, I had to be very diligent with a lint roller and careful to keep it away from everything until I could get it safely packaged to mail.  Whew!

 

See more finishes at Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

 

 

 


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Sunday Stash Report: 4/6/14

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Forced, forced I tell you, to buy some more solids and a backing  this week, but some of it’s already used, and more will be soon.  No regrets.

The backs for the pillow covers used 1 1/2 yards, and the custom quilt I finished yesterday took 2 1/2 yards.

This week: +8.5 yards, -4 yards
YTD: +52.75 yards, -69 yards
Net stash used 2014: -16.25 yards

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And my Lenten Roses (helebores) are especially beautiful right now.
Happy Spring!

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


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Pillow Covers

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I finished up these four pillow covers Monday (two of each).  The tops are made from a great vintage tablecloth.  I don’t have any idea of the age, maybe 1960’s?  Help me out if you know.

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It was in nearly perfect shape, except for a permanent stain near the center.  This allowed my to cut four 18″ tops from the four corners, two of each design.

Without any flaws or thin spots, I didn’t stabilize it with anything, I just treated it like new home dec fabric.

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I layered the tops with cotton batting and white cotton fabric, and did a little curvy quilting on each with variegated pink Sulky rayon.

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The backs are a gray Kona, envelope style with a single dot of Velcro to keep them closed.  I machine bound them with Carnation pink Kona.  These are listed in my Etsy shop, but if they don’t sell soon, they may end of on my sofa!

Hope you are making progress on your projects.

I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.