Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art


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Sunday Stash Report: 11/20/16

In the past two weeks I haven’t finished anything, and I have added four yards of fabric.  No worries, it will come out in the end.

2016-11-17-12-24-25I have been making lots of progress on quilting Christmas Stars.  I only have two borders left to quilt.  I’d say I would finish it this week, but I’ll be traveling most of the week to visit my husband’s family.

For those of you not traveling, don’t forget to join in the Black Friday Sew In on Twitter and Facebook (#BFSI).  I’ll be hanging around, just not sewing.

2016-11-19-13-40-35The “new” fabric came from my late mother’s  stash.  She donated the bulk of it a couple years ago, but my sister and I were cleaning out the closet in her studio and the drawers in her sewing table.  We got about halfway through.  There were lots of old patterns exchanged with her internet friends from the very early days when quilters first connected in chat rooms.  There was hunted-and-gathered fabric for a couple of quilts, and some experimental UFOs.  Drawings my son had made for her weren’t too far from a bag of scraps from the dress she wore to my wedding and her sketches for the whole-cloth baby quilt she hand-quilted for him.  We found a few misplaced family heirloom quilts, and put them where they belonged.  Other than the fabric, I only brought home a small box of tools, needles, and supplies, and a Maple Leaf top to finish for donation.  It was poignant and exhausting, and an interesting way to grieve her loss and share family stories with my sister.
This week:  + 4 yards,  – 0 yards
This year: + 108.25 yards,  – 133 yards
Net destashed in 2016:  24.75 yards

Enjoy this busy week and being with family.

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


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WIP Wednesday: Christmas Stars


Yesterday I finished taking apart the inner border blocks to add the red and white striped flanges.  Today I sewed the last of the chunks together for the top, and I pieced the borders.  Bad photo, but the light goes away early these days.

I still have to cut corner blocks, and then I can sew on the borders.

It felt good to keep busy sewing today.


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Sunday Stash Report: 11/6/16


I only had a couple of small finishes this week, but I didn’t buy any new fabric, so it’s good.

I made these six 12.5″ blocks for Kat’s November block drive.  These are quick and easy to make, and I could have made more, but I ran out of white/cream scraps. Still, they used about a yard of scraps.


This cat mat for Krissi used about 2.25 yards, almost all the scraps from the Lavender Baby Quilt.  I had fun playing around with free motion quilting on it.  I’m pleased with the paw prints down the center.

Krissi took a serious liking to that baby quilt, was on it constantly, and took it personally when I made her stay off long enough for me to quilt it.  I tend to think that fabric is fabric to a cat, and there’s certainly enough lying around the studio, even on the sunny cutting table.  


Instead, after I put the baby quilt away, this is where I found Krissi, day after day.  Followed by long, accusing looks at me.


So I made her the mat, and now this is where I find her every time I go up there. (That is her happy face.)

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 3.25 yards
This year: + 104.25 yards,  – 133 yards
Net destashed in 2016:  28.75 yards

Are you keeping you stash and your cats happy?

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


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WIP Wednesday: Stars


Yesterday I finished these ten wonky stars, and I’m very happy with them.


Here’s how they look in the quilt.  It’s supposed to be low volume, but I know it needs another pop or two of color.  It will have a bright binding, but I think it needs more. 

I’m very open to suggestions, because the place I would add some piping will require lots of unsewing.


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October/November Goals and Sunday Stash Report

picmonkey-collage

My October goals were very modest, but I did achieve them, more or less.

October Goals

  1. Make string blocks for Kat’s October block drive.  Yes.  And I finally mailed them.
  2. Start the Christmas quilt.  Sort of.  I revised the design, and began the cutting.

Bonus:  I made the lavender baby quilt.

For November, I’ll  be healthy, but we travel for about a week, and I should probably start my Christmas shopping, so still modest goals.

November Goals

  1. Finish Christmas quilt.
  2. Revamp fireplace screen cover.
  3. Work on Scrappy Stars Around the Corner.
  4. Make blocks for Kat’s November block drive.

 

Stash

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 3.5 yards
This year: + 104.25 yards,  – 129.75 yards
Net destashed in 2016:  25.5 yards

How did you do this month?

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


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Lavender Baby Finish

img_2758Today I finished a pretty little baby quilt for a new little cousin.  It was inspired by the color of her room.

IMG_2760.JPGI know you’ve seen this design before (a few times!), but I wanted to keep the pieces large to show the ribbon print fabric, so here it is in living color.  I also used a piece of the new Grunge collection, which perfectly bridges the spectrum between lavender and orchid.  The light fabrics are hard to see here, but they are dots and chevrons on cream.

img_2761The backing is an irridescent  damask in a beautiful lavender.

img_27642016-10-29-12-03-29I quilted this with variegated Poly Quilter from Superior.  It was the perfect colors, but I have never been able to get it to sew in my machine before (I think it’s 30 wt.).  Maybe it was the recent tune-up, but I had little problem this time.  The big size 100 needle punched visible holes in the back, but they closed up when I washed it.

2016-10-28-11-53-53Now I have to break it to Krissi that we’re sending “her” quilt away.  She’s pretty attached.


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Sunday Stash Report: 10/16/2016

2016-10-13-11-08-35Yes, sewing happened!  It was just twelve string blocks for donation, but it used two and a half yards (they were on foundation fabric).

2016-10-13-11-10-14Some, um, fabric was acquired.  This collection of thirty-six half-yards of Grunge was on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop, and I needed it.  In fact, I’ve already cut up one piece for a new baby quilt…

This week:  + 18 yards,  – 2.5 yards
This year: + 104.25 yards,  – 126.25 yards
Net destashed in 2016:  22.00 yards

It’s a setback to my goal of destashing fifty yards, but think what I’ll be able to make with all these rich colors in my stash!

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


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A Little Sewing

wp-image-932651337jpg.jpgThis week I began climbing the stairs up to my studio and sitting at the machine for half an hour or so at a time.  My knee is not pleased to be bent that long, much less push on the foot pedal, so I have to take breaks and walk around to stretch it out.

I did succeed in making a dozen 10 1/2″ string blocks for Kat’s October drive.  A good way to get back into sewing.

2016-10-13-12-22-18And yet, I can’t see any reduction in my strings…

2016-10-13-12-22-58aMy Bernina machine has been away at the spa while I was healing (getting her back today!), so I used this one instead.  This is SueAnn, a White, from the ’30s, I’m guessing?  Help me out if you know.

This is the machine on which I learned to sew.  When my parents were first married, my dad worked at the Boston Store in Erie, PA.  They took used machines on trade-in, and had a sale on treadles for, like, $10.  My mom had no machine, so she asked for one of those, but instead my dad brought home this used electric and the cabinet, which I don’t have.  All our clothes were made on this until my mom won a new machine when I was 11, and I started sewing on this one.

2016-10-09-16-25-15aI had a moment of panic when I went to thread her, but I just went ahead and let muscle memory take over, which seemed to work.  It’s not much different from a modern machine, but on the end instead of the front, and the bobbin and needle are turned sideways as well.

2016-10-11-12-22-33I have put the feet away somewhere, a very safe place, Jaye suggests, and I still can’t find them.  I used this walking foot, and, really, it wasn’t a bad choice for stitching the strings to a muslin background.  I like the way this machine purrs along.  In my dream studio I’d keep it set up in a cabinet.

Now I’m working on the design of that neutral Christmas quilt, and hope to do some cutting and organizing until my knee wants to sew some more!


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Sunday Stash Report: 10/2/16

Absolutely no sewing is going on here, but I was able to order fabric!  While lazing around, I conceived of a Christmas quilt using wonky stars of red and green fabric against a background of grays/neutrals (see yesterday’s post).

Other than the Grunges, this fabric was on a great sale at Fabric Shack.  The large piece has a larger print of faint green and gray snowflakes.  It’s a delicious batch of neutrals.  And I think I have a related piece of gray and cream “Glisten” (the ornaments) upstairs in the Stash.

This week:  + 9 yards,  – 0 yards
This year: + 86.25 yards,  – 123.75 yards
Net destashed in 2016:  37.50 yards

It’s in the washer now, and then I’ll be petting it for a while until it can star cutting.

How are you doing?  I’m linking up to the Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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September / October Goals

2016-09-29-10-43-59From the heat of the summer, our weather has turned suddenly chilly and rainy.  The cats tell me the best thing to do is to stay inside and take naps, so I’ve been listening to them.

It’s a little less than three weeks since my knee surgery.  It went well, and I’m now walking unaided, but the pain had been a lot worse this time, for some reason.  I’m using ice and cats.

September Goals:

  1. Take my machine to the spa.  Yes.
  2. Watch Craftsy classes.  Yes, one so far.  (Cut to It)
  3. Catch up on podcasts.  Not yet.  Soon!  Or at least get current.
  4. Heal from my right knee replacement!  Yes. Ice, cats, and physical therapy.  Ouch!

 

Bonus: I finished that blue and brown quilt.  

christmas-starsI bought fabric on line, then designed this Christmas quilt to make with it.  The background will be grays, not pinks.


October Goals

  1. Make string blocks for Kat’s October block drive.
  2. Start the Christmas quilt.

That’s all.  I don’t have my machine back yet, and I’m not yet climbing stairs, so I won’t be too ambitious.

Thanks to all of you who have been sewing in my stead.  Keep it up!