So, I bought this fabric… no, wait, move the cat.
That’s better. I bought this fabric yesterday when we stopped in at Fabric Shack. Only seven yards. Could have been much worse.
Today I worked on 15.5″ “slabs” of color to send to Texas ( pictures and a link later).
This week: + 7 yards, – 1.5 yards
This year: + 64.5 yards, – 82.75 yards
Net fabric destashed in 2015: 18.25
Good luck on using you stash! I’m linking up to Judy’s report at Patchwork Times.
So, I bought this fabric… no, wait, move the cat.
That’s better. I bought this fabric yesterday when we stopped in at Fabric Shack. Only seven yards. Could have been much worse.
Today I worked on 15.5″ “slabs” of color to send to Texas ( pictures and a link later).
This week: + 7 yards, – 1.5 yards
This year: + 64.5 yards, – 82.75 yards
Net fabric destashed in 2015: 18.25
Good luck on using you stash! I’m linking up to Judy’s report at Patchwork Times.
I’m entering “Spring Violets” in the Home Machine Quilted category of this spring’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side. This quilt measures 66″ x 84″. The batting is Warm and White. And, yes, that’s Yuri helping out.
I started this quilt as a stash buster, possibly for donation. I had a lot of purples and greens that I wanted to use up, and I thought of a favorite block of mine, Windflower, which is a variation of Drunkard’s Path.
The flower centers are done with “Rainbows” by Superior Threads. All the other stitching is with “Bottom Line”, also Superior. The violets are quilted with “pebbles” and outlines. I used three different background fillers in the green backgrounds around the flowers. The borders have rings that mimic the “coffee rings” on the batik.
It ended up as a meticulous, lengthy project, especially the quilting, and I’m now too attached to it to part with it. It makes me happy.
See all the entries at the Blogger’s Quilt Festival at Amy’s Creative Side. Voting begins May 22!
The wonderful thing about a patchwork quilt is that it is warm and cuddly, colorful, and full of interesting fabrics to examine, whether it has any great artistic or design qualities to it at all. I made this one to donate (along with it’s counterpart), and I’m confident that it will be loved.
I know it looks like a barn raising log cabin quilt from a distance. I think all the blocks are at least turned right. I used eyes from all over the world on this (the #Twilters), and still found one turned wrong when I was quilting. (No, it wasn’t the one of which we were suspicious, lower right corner. This was on the other side!) I took out the quilting, ripped out the block, sewed it back properly, and then resumed the quilting.
But up close… whoo, boy! Up close, everything runs together. At least the colors are pretty. I quilted feathers into the light areas using pale pink Bottom Line by Superior, and stippled the dark stripes with magenta Bottom Line. I really think that improved things, helping to unite the fabrics. The center designs are done in gray Sulky.
I admit I make string blocks when I want mindless sewing therapy, but I did think about the fabric placement on these. I just didn’t get it quite right.
Part of the problem is the large scale print fabric I have in my scraps. It’s very difficult to categorize as light or dark, and sometimes a particular section will be the lighter than the rest, or darker. And there was one print that I was determined to use, since I liked it and had a lot of it. I decided I would make it a “dark”. We know value is relative, depending on the surroundings. And, you know, from a distance, it does work. But not really up close. So I learned.
Yuri and I still like it and think that it will comfort someone. That’s success.
I’m linking up with WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden.
It’s been a busy week with a lot of interruptions, but I have managed to get up to the studio a few times. Yesterday I trimmed all the pink and black log cabin blocks, and arranged them in a Straight Furrows set.
This morning Kati suggested I try a Barn Raising set. I know there are a few blocks here that need to be turned, but you get the idea. It looks okay in the photo, but to the naked eye it’s just chaos. Some of my dark fabrics aren’t very dark, and the blocks don’t have a lot of contrast. It was a bear to try to arrange them up close. Think they’re going back to the original arrangement.
And this afternoon I started on Clue 4 of Charlotte’s Scrap-in-a-Box Mystery Quilt. Easy to put together, no pins, and I like my colors.
Hope you’re making good progress. I’m linking up to
at Freshly Pieced.
The scrappy log cabin top is all put together, and I’ve made the backing, so it may get spray basted today.
While I was waiting to have a place to baste (I use an old ping pong table), I made 48 more blocks in pinks, grays, and blacks.
Also, I finished a mug rug to swap, but I haven’t sent it yet.
Hope you’re making all the progress you wish. I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
I really have been sewing a lot. Darla at Scientific Quilter left it up to us whether we wanted to March-A-Long this month, and I did. I hauled myself up to the studio every day (15 minutes always morphs into more for me, it’s just the getting started that’s hard). I just didn’t always work on my goals. I did make the three flying geese baby quilts, just because I caught the fever. And a block for a friend. And a custom quilt and matching stuffed toy that I posted to Australia this morning. And an extra mug rug that…but I don’t want to talk about that yet. Anyway.
March Goals
1. Audit Jinny Beyer BOM Craftsy Class. Yes, I am almost caught up on watching this. And I sewed the first block. By hand. After cutting with templates. Eek. I’m glad I challenged myself, but I’ll be sticking to the sewing machine from now on.
2. Complete Step Three on Charlotte’s Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt. Yes!
3. Continue studio organization. Yes, I bought a vintage file organizer, and a couple more containers for inside the lockers.
4. Begin nautical-themed art quilt. I worked on this, but don’t know what I’ll do with it. The photo wasn’t as good as I’d remembered. This won’t be applique, as I’d planned, but I’m playing around with a photo-transfer idea.
5. Assemble scrappy log cabin blocks I made a few months ago. Um, they’re on my design wall. Not together yet.
April Goals
1. Audit Jinny Beyer BOM Craftsy Class.
2. Complete Step Four on Charlotte’s Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt.
3. Complete mug rug for Sandi’s swap at Quilt Cabana.
4. Assemble and quilt the scrappy log cabin quilt.
How are you doing? Hope you’re happy with your progress. I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced (if Lee’s back!).
This week I finished the last (hopefully!) of the Flying Geese baby quilts. This was a completely unplanned series, started when I was looking for a pattern to use up some 6 1/2″ little boy scraps. Then I used some bits of yardage to make the pink quilt where the geese change directions. Finally, I made this to use this cotton lawn yardage and 3 1/2″ pink scraps (cut to 3 1/4″ for the 5 1/2 ” blocks) and some 6 1/2″ flowered squares.
This one is not as graphic as the others, but it’s my favorite. I love the variety of pinks, and I like the way the black and white looks against them. It’s quilted with three rows of large, curvy free-motion feathers (in Superior’s pink Bottom Line, top and bottom) that were quick and fun to do. I used an irregular black and white stripe to bind it.
The lawn fabric (the geese, and both prints on the back) had intimidated me for a while. (I think I bought it online without noticing that it wasn’t quilting cotton.) Once I starched it up and pressed it, it behaved very well. There’s a little stretch to it, but the starch helped. It’s also a bit transparent, but I pressed seams away from it, and everything looks good.
One problem was that the smaller flowers are printed very crooked, and they look a little funky on the back. I used every last bit of these fabrics, so there wasn’t much I could do, and it’s okay. The cat helps hide them, anyway.
Which one is your favorite? I like them all, but I really like the last one, just in time for Spring. Now that I’ve completed this fun exploration of Flying Geese, I need to return to my March goals. I’m working on Clue 3 for Scrap in a Box. I’ll show you that later.
Good luck on all your finishes. I’m linking up to WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden. Not that this has been in-progress very long, but Angie likes me to share! And to Let’s Make Baby Quilts! at Michelle’s Romantic Tangle.
This week I’m working on another little Flying Geese quilt. I love the precision in making these.
This one uses some very old pinks, including this one we think dates to the nineties, and some that are obviously more modern.
In contrast to the last baby quilt, this one does require pinning for the final assembly. Yuck. I still have three more rows to sew on before the top is complete.
Also, I put together the January block from the Jinny Beyer Block of the Month Quilt on Craftsy (using another vintage JB fabric). I was only going to follow along on the lessons, but after seeing others do it, I had to give it a try. Ouch.
I felt smug about printing my templates out on the computer, but that was the last time I enjoyed it. I once sewed entire quilts this way, but my hands are no longer made for tracing, cutting, or hand sewing little triangles. Let’s just say its sort of square, close to the right size, and finished! I might do a couple more blocks, but with the rotary cutter and machine, for sure.
Spring weather seems to have arrived here, very suddenly, and by afternoons I’m sewing with my window open a little. Hope you’re enjoying your progress. I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Just a quick one to show you what I’m doing (instead of any of my goals!). I put together a scrappy Flying Geese quilt, and now I’m marking geese in the solid areas to quilt. So far, so good.
While I pieced this and my last two projects, I’ve been working on this (my first) leaders and enders project, and am starting to see some progress. I like doing it, and it eliminates lots of threads, but I don’t promise I’ll always be organized enough to do it. I recently did some cleaning in the studio, which makes it possible to locate the basket when I get ready to piece. (Someday this will be a “Frilly” quilt like Pam made.
Hope all of you are making progress! I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
Evening in the Garden Quilts 