Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art


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WIP Wednesday:  Finishing and Beginning


Yesterday I finished binding Scrappy Stars Around the Corner!  It turned out great, and I’ll post about it soon.


Today I started work on Clue 2 of Surrounded by Scraps, Charlotte’s mystery quilt for this year.  The ironic thing is, yes, it’s another #bigheavyquilt, and I suppose you’ll get to hear me complain again when it comes time to quilt it.  Oh, well.  I want it for our bed.

HollyAnne from String and Story passed along a recipe for homemade spray baste.  This is the first I’ve heard of it.  It’s said to work well, and sounds easy to make.  One reason given for making it is the high cost of commercial spray baste.  I think folks who are feeling this must be using way too much.  You know I finish a lot of quilts, but I swear I only go through about two cans a year.  I use June Taylor, and I whiff it ever so lightly over each layer.  I use so little, I’ve wondered before if the quilt were just being held together by good intentions!  But, no, when I need to peel back a layer for some reason, it’s always nicely stuck.  I started a new can on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 5), so let’s keep track of how many quilts I get from it.  Remind me!

Also, here’s the Quilters’ Alliance Contest and Auction.  The theme is “Voices”, and the quilts are just 16″ square.  I did this a few years ago.

Hope you’re making lots of progress on your projects!


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WIP Wednesday:  Still Stars 


I’ve spent the last few days slogging away on the quilting of Scrappy Stars Around the Corner.  It is BIG and heavy, especially when rolled diagonally as it is now.  I’m almost done with the straight line walking foot quilting, and then I’ll finish up with some free motion.  Three bobbins so far.


This is my set up for quilting.  Sewing table, wood cabinet, ironing board (with slippery boxes), chair to catch the end.  I’ve removed the chair for the walking foot quilting, because it was causing everything to back up.  I’ll put it back for free motion.

Hope you’re making progress!  So many people are sick.  Stay warm (Northern Hemisphere folks!) and stay healthy!


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Sunday Stash Report: 2/5/17

I kept busy this week working on the Scrappy Stars quilt, but I’m just getting started quilting it.  The only finish is twelve heart blocks for HollyAnne’s Quilt for Cure block drive.  They make up quickly.  Mine used two yards of fabric.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 2  yards
This year: + 38 yards,  – 24.25 yards
Net destashed added in 2017:  13.75 yards

I’m linking up to the Stash Report at Patchwork Times, and Sew Some Love at Kat and Cat Quilts.


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WIP Wednesday  2/1/17


Krissi and I have been working on the Scrappy Stars quilt.  (No, Krissi is not a fan of the camera!)


This is an old photo, but it shows it all nicely pressed, unlike now, after I dug it out of its basket.  No more rows are sewn on, but they’re all assembled and ready to add today.  And I found the corner pieces- they were between some of the blocks.

I’ll be spray basting this on my basement ping pong table, but for those of you who pin, check out Katie’s video of her method of board basting.  Great for small spaces, and not getting down on the floor!


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January / February Goals

picmonkey-collage-1-30-17

January was a great sewing month for me!  New fabric, cold weather, clear goals…I got a lot done!

January Goals:

  1. Make pink baby quilt.  Yes!  Finished and gifted.
  2. Blocks for Kat’s block drive.  Yes!  And I mailed them.
  3. Finish cutting for Surrounded by Scraps mystery quilt.  I’ve cut all the print fabrics.  I’m cutting the background as I need it.
  4. Step one for SbS mystery quilt.  Yes!
  5. Make commissioned baby quilt.  Yes!

Bonus:  I made four more baby quilts for my shop!  A pink one, woodland, and the two elephants.

I’m going to try to cram a lot into February, too, knowing that we’ll have more snowy sewing weather, and vacation plans start in March.

February Goals:

  1. Complete Clue #2 for Surrounded by Scraps.
  2. Make donation blocks for HollyAnne at String and Story.
  3. Finish assembling top for Scrappy Stars Around the Corner (last year’s mystery quilt from Charlotte).
  4. Quilt and bind SSAC (see above).
  5. Take out my Storm at Sea (the Slow Quilt) and make some decisions.

 

If you need some concentrated sewing time, join us this weekend for the Sports Ball Sew In (#SBSI) on Twitter and the Twilters’ Facebook group.


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Sunday Stash Report: 1/29/17


January has been a great month for using the stash!  I’m still in the red, but the sewing has been happening.  This week I finished two elephant-themed baby quilts that each used 3.5 yards of fabric, some recently purchased, and some that’s been hanging around the stash for a while.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 7  yards
This year: + 38 yards,  – 22.25 yards
Net destashed added in 2017:  15.75 yards

I hope you’ve found time to sew something beautiful this week!

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


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Two Elephant Finishes

img_2796img_2793I took advantage of the Australia Day Sew In yesterday to finish up the second of the elephant baby quilts.  Then I washed them both up for photos.

img_2801img_2799The batting is Warm and Plush.  It really is nice and plush-y, and fine for quilting.  One drawback is that it shrinks more than the regular Warm battings.  I put minimal quilting in the version of Pink Pinwheels that I made for Etsy, and it shrank two inches in each direction, which wasn’t a problem, since it was a little large anyway.  I made an effort to add more quilting to these two (roughly every inch or two inches), and it shrank 1.5 inches in each direction (on a 36″ x 42″ quilt).  It is nice and poofy, just be aware.

img_2800The binding is the last of a Riley Blake one inch charcoal stripe.

img_2803Thank you for all the encouragement.  These are really fun fabrics, and the aqua ones have been in my stash for a while, so I was glad to use them.  These are in my Etsy shop.

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


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Design Wall Monday- Elephants


Today I put together this top using some of the fabric I purchased recently.  I have a fun piece of polka-dot flannel for the backing. 


I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. 


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Sunday Stash Report: 1/22/17


I did some sewing this week, working down my fabric surplus.  I made 18 quarter cabins for Kat’s block drive, which used about two yards.


I also sewed up this quilt for my Etsy shop using a flannel panel.  This was a nice straight panel, and I only had to add narrow borders to bring it up to size.  2.75 yards.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 4.75 yards
This year: + 38 yards,  – 15.25 yards
Net destashed added in 2017:  22.25 yards

How are you doing?

I’m linking up to Judy’s Stash Report at Patchwork Times and Sew Some Love at Kat and Cat Quilts.


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Sunday Stash Report: 1/15/17

Um, yes I did buy fabric this week.  Or, rather, I mostly bought fabric during December sales and it arrived this week.  Like, um, 32 yards of the stuff.

The batik on the left is my background for Surrounded by Scraps, Charlotte’s mystery quilt for this year.


And I have plans for all of this.

This week I made one more baby quilt, similar to, and using scraps from this one.  That used 3.5 yards.

This week:  + 32 yards,  – 3.5 yards
This year: + 38 yards,  – 10.5 yards
Net destashed added in 2017:  27.5 yards

Also, this week I received a number of goodies from Amazon  (DH says I’m the reason they had to add 1000 new employees…).  Anyway, they include fusible I’m out of, pins, spray baste, a desperately needed new ironing board cover, a white board, and a new iron!  My current iron still worked, but wasn’t very effective.  I never felt it heated up as well as my little $10 Sunbeam I use on my pressing mat.  So I got a $23 Sunbeam Steam Master 1400!  And I love it!  Non-stick sole plate, retractable cord, 3-way auto-off.  Heats right up, and blinks when it’s cooling down.  Now I have no excuses for not getting lots of work done.

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