Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Category Archives: Finishes


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Blogger’s Quilt Festival Fall 2013

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Here is my entry in the Wall Hanging category of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival at Amy’s Creative Side.  Make sure you go over to see everyone’s work.  The show is always fantastic.

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I am fortunate enough to live on a hill in a wooded area, and this was my view one fall evening as the sun was setting.  You know you own a lot of batiks when you can walk inside and pull the perfect sky fabric immediately.  Most of the fabrics in this are batiks.

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I hung the sky on my design wall, layered the “ground” fabrics over it, and cut the trees and trunks freehand.  I used a glue stick to adhere them.

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Then I cut the design to size and framed it with green grass and blue sky.  I really love the textured blue batik fabric that contains hints of purples and oranges from the scene.

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The fallen leaves on the grass are bits of scraps from the trees.  I laid them on after the quilt was sandwiched, covered them with water-soluble stabilizer, and quilted over them to hold them on.

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I quilted inside the trees to hold them in place, leaving the edges to fray in the wash.  On the sky and on some of the trees I followed the fabric motif as a quilting design.  I backed this and bound it in a brilliant orange tie dye print.  I am very happy with the way this turned out.  It’s my very personal fall landscape.

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“Fall Glory”

Valerie Root

Wall Hanging

32″ x 38″

Machine pieced and appliqued

Machine quilted


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Two Finishes

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Here are two little baby quilts I finished yesterday.  Both are aqua and gray, very popular colors.

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I finally got these log cabin blocks oriented correctly.  You might have said something after Wednesday’s post, or did you think it was something artsy I was doing?  I found two to fix after that post, but I didn’t see the last block till I had it sandwiched.  Fortunately, it was in a corner, so it wasn’t too bad to un-sew and re-sew.  If you spot a problem now, please don’t tell me.

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This one with the chevrons was more of a minty aqua, and hard to photograph.  I like it, though, and I had fun doing the feathers.  I even remembered to add extra batting to the gray areas when I sandwiched it, so the feathers pop more.  The odd triangles are seersucker, and the texture is  great.

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I like the flying geese backing.

These are smaller than I usually make, 30″ x 36″, which I still think is a useful size.  Usually, mine are around 36″ x 42″.  What do you think is the ideal size for a baby quilt?

I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

 

 


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Getting It Done in September and October

The September goals really focused me this month.  I accomplished all of them.  Well, I was a little weak on the Oh My Stars Christmas quilt(s), but I had used the verb “revisit”, and I did revisit it.  I found it in its gym locker where it had marinated for two years.  I put the stars up on my design wall.  I unsewed some stars made with a white fabric that just wasn’t working, and I looked over the original directions and tried to remember what in the world I had been planning to do next.  I think that’s “revisiting”.

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In addition, I also made 32 Quilt of Valor blocks, and I made a throw quilt from a batch of string blocks I had laying around, and got started with the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt.

September Goals

1. Quilt and bind Coffee Quilt.

2. Make some fall wall hangings for my shop.

3. Make a small art quilt from a vacation photo.

4. Revisit my Oh, My Stars UFO.

October Goals

1. Piece and quilt Oh My Stars throw quilt for shop.

2. Piece and quilt OMS throw quilt for myself.

3. Step 2 of Scrapitude Mystery Quilt

4. Several Xmas wall hangings for shop

I’ll make up both Oh My Stars quilts if I can get interested in it again.  If not, I may substitute a UFO for the second one.

How are you doing with your goals?

I’m linking up with Getting It Done at Patchwork Times.


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Donation Finishes

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Today I mailed off two packages of donation sewing.  I had so much fun making these flag blocks that I didn’t want to stop (I made 32!)  I warn you, they are addictive.  Here is Alycia’s post.

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I also said goodbye to the Tulip Quilt.  I said at the time that I didn’t want any more disasters, but these things keep happening.  I sent this to Colorado to warm a flood survivor.  Here is Luana’s post.

Now my studio is cleared out a bit and I have no more excuses not to work on Oh My Stars.  I haven’t had a lot of help with the Christmas carols, though.  Most people seem to be like me, and want to leave the red and green till December.  “It hasn’t snowed a single flurry, but Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry…”.

I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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String Finish

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I’ve been sewing and sewing, but not reducing much stash.  I don’t like to think I have very many UFOs, because I usually finish projects straight through, but I do have a few.  I pulled out these 35 string blocks that are 6-9 months old.  They were made with remnants of the Midwest Modern fabric I used in this quilt.  I think I probably meant to sash them to make them large enough for a donation quilt of some sort.  I tried them with cream, gold, and pink, the consensus on Twitter being the pink and yellow batik.

 

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They were numbered, so I put them up on my design wall, and really liked the set without sashing, so I used the pink for borders.  The blocks are so busy that I didn’t think intricate quilting would show up on them.

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I stitched three wavey lines on alternate rows and columns.  In the empty blocks, I put a free-hand rose with four leaves.

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The borders, though, were ripe for feathers!  They were a bit wide, so I did a scalloped border first.  Then I marked a curvy spine and lower boundary for the feathers and had at it.  I used a butterscotch-colored Living Colors thread from Superior, 40 wt, I think.  I was in a great feather zone and had a lovely time working on them.  Unfortunately, I also sewed feathers every time I closed my eyes that night.  Ah, the price of great art.

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The back is just barely pieced, and used the rest of the batik, plus a pink and yellow piece  for which I was happy to find a home.

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This ended up 52″ x 67″, which makes a nice throw, and I put it in my shop.  I have no idea where Yuri was during these pictures, but I managed without him.

I hope you’re playing with fabric today.


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North Dakota Landscape Finished

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My landscape quilt based on a vacation photo is finished, and, I think, successful.  This particular scene was in North Dakota, but we saw many similar landscapes as we crossed the U.S. To the west, and then came back east through Canada. Here was our route. Making this really didn’t take that long (it’s only about 18″ x 24″), but I kept puttering around on other things because I wasn’t that comfortable working with images and applique.  My friend, Carol, of LandscapeLady fame, guided and encouraged me on Twitter.  Ironically, while I was working on landscape, she was dipping back into patchwork.  Always good to stretch a bit.

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Interestingly, I didn’t use any fusibles on this project.  It has very simple pieces, so I cut freezer paper templates, ironed them to the right side of the fabrics, and cut around the templates.  I used spray adhesive to hold everything in place on a muslin background.  In addition to the muslin, I used two layers of water soluble stabilizer on the back as I machine appliqued everything down and did some decoration with thread.

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This spool of Perfect Quilter variegated thread is what I used to stitch millions of blades of grass in all three layers of the grassy field.  I thought it added texture and helped to unite the three different fabrics a bit.  The top green is less saturated than the earlier photos because I turned it over and used the reverse of the fabric.  That left it a little splotchy, so the stitching helped to even that out.  Then I clipped the top edges of the grass fabrics, frayed them with a brush, and put the top only through the washer and dryer.

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I quilted everything using invisible thread.  It gave it lots of definition.

 

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Design-wise, it was tempting to add some object to the foreground for interest, even though there was nothing in the original scene.  I decided that I really wanted to keep it all about the grass and sky.  I am fortunate to live surrounded by farmland, but it’s cluttered (in a nice way), hemmed in farmland.   The Great Plains are so much about space and distance.  I hope I captured that in this piece.

 

I’m linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, and Applique Tuesday on A Quilting Reader’s Garden.

I’m also linking up to Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Contest at Celtic Thistle Stitches. Come look at the great entries!


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Fall Wall Hangings Finished

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Both of these hangings are finished.  And they will look square when I sew down the hanging sleeves and press them a little.  These string blocks were fun to do.  The blocks were 6 1/2″,  and the quilt finished at 24″ square.  So much fun to quilt small projects!  All the fun and none of the bulk dragging on your shoulders!

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I practiced swirls in the “sky”, and did a leafy vine in the border.

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The feathers in the leaf at harder to see.  I like them, but I should have added an extra layer of batting in that area to make them pop.  I’m still happy with it.

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The Fall Cabins wall hanging turned out very well, too.  It’s 32″ x 40″.  Someday I’d like to make a larger quilt like this.

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Remember the plan on EQ7? Occasionally, I scan in fabrics and do a care full design. Usually, I just do it this way, to get a rough idea of the values and any secondary designs, and to check the math.

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I quilted straight diagonal lines in brown Bottom Line through the dark areas, and used yellow Sulky for feathers through the lighter areas.

Now I’m at work on a couple of things, including the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt that Sandy is sharing with us on Quilting for the Rest of Us.  It just started, many people haven’t cut their scraps yet, so you can certainly join in.  Several of us on Twitter are doing it, #scrapitude.  Great stash buster!

Can’t wait to see what you finished!

I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Coffee Quilt is Finished!

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I used the Labor Day Sew-In on Twitter ( #LDSI ) to make myself focus and get this quilt completed!  On and off all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we sewed and tweeted away.  Everyone else shared multiple finishes ( it seemed to me), but they encouraged me through the various steps and cheered me along.  Monday morning I finished quilting the border and put on the binding.  Yay!

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Others agreed that we don’t enjoy piecing a large quilt back, but I really think the results were worth the work.  Love this!

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I quilted free-form feathers in all the card trick blocks using orange Highlights from Superior, and did a small stipple in dark brown Bottom Line on the espresso backgrounds.

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In the borders,  I outlined all the cats and books using smoke invisible thread.  I swear by Superior’s Monopoly.  I zoomed through the borders at a fast speed and never had the least bit of trouble with thread breakage.  That’s very important because I can’t see well enough to rethread the needle with that darn transparent stuff!  Honestly, I did not sew around every book;  I “laddered” back and forth, alternating books, which I think still give the appearance of them all being quilted.

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That border gave me fits.  I had found three yards of the out-print-fabric on Etsy, and expected to have enough to use on the back, too.  Au contrare.  First I discovered that the rows of cats did not contain enough space for cutting and seams, so I had to sacrifice a row of cats every time I cut.  Then I discovered that the rows were not all the same width.  Sheesh.  Who’s the nimrod who designed this?  So, in two corners the border miters nicely, and in the other two there is no way.  I feel that it looks as if I were careless, but it was the best I could do.  I trimmed the outer edges in such a way that I think is looks matched, if you don’t look too closely.  Oh, well.  It is a great border print.

This turned out dark and rich and cozy.  I think it will be just right for curling up with a good book, your favorite cat, and a glass of wine or cup of coffee.  And one of my Christmas gifts is finished!

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I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday on Crazy Mom Quilts.


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The Beach Quilt is a Success

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Yuri and I are pretty satisfied with this quilt, finally.  I set out to throw some fabrics together for a carefree day at the shore (metaphorically), and it turned into two days of editing, and left me with another pile of fabrics to make into yet another quilt… it never ends.  Fortunately, I ran out and took pictures during the few minutes of dry weather we’ve had lately.

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My two favorite things  about this are the embroidered shell batik with gold accents, and the wavy blue quilting.  The shells do have a tendency to come unraveled, so, happily, the blue waves cover them pretty thoroughly and will control that, I think.  The straight lines are in light brown Living Colors thread (40 wt.) from Superior, and the turquoise waves are their New Brites (30 wt.).  I did everything with my walking foot.

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My next favorite thing is the back, where I used up some more strings in seven blocks to make a ten inch strip through the tan flower and stem print.  To me this print looked like waving beach grasses, even though there are flowers.

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My last favorite is that I had a blue and brown awning stripe that made the perfect binding.

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Yuri’s favorite thing is that it makes a great tent when you drape it over an Adirondack chair.

This will be my last finish for a while, as we are heading out Sunday, traveling to New Jersey and Lancaster, PA for the next week.  I look forward to seeing yours instead.

We’re linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Getting It Done in June and July

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Summer is certainly here, and I am a warm weather fan.  Unfortunately for quilt production, it also means gardening, lack of routine, family activities, vacations, and a sultry studio.  For these reasons I’ve really seen my finishes slack off.  I’m content with that, but it’s why my July goals are very modest.  “Machine service” isn’t even a sewing goal, but I included it so that it will Get Done.  Last year I forgot to take it in before we left on vacation, and then I didn’t want to be without it when I returned ( my LQS is pretty slow.). It deserves a good cleaning.

June Goals

1.  Make donation quilt (Tulips).

2.  Nautical baby quilt.

3.  Make pair of pillowcases (Nicey Jane).

4.  Piece top for SIL Christmas gift quilt.  ( I got this designed and ordered fabric for it.)

July Goals

1.  Piece top for SIL Christmas gift quilt.

2.  Piece top for summer/beachy quilt

3.  Take sewing machine in for service

4.  Quilt beach quilt.

I didn’t do too badly on my June goals. Also, I completed the commissioned quilt and pillow cover that I hadn’t anticipated. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

I hope you enjoy summer, whether you make all your goals or not.

I’m linking up to Getting It Done at Patchwork Times.