Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art


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Finish: Baby Geese 2

IMG_2288pYesterday I finished up another take on the geese, and I like it a lot.  You can see the Flea Market Fancy in it, but I also used up lots of old pinks from my stash, including a pink Jinny Beyer check that might be from the early nineties.

IMG_2289Since I was cutting yardage, sometimes small bits, I made these blocks 6″ finished, easy to cut and sew and calculate.  The quilt finishes at 36″ x 42″.

IMG_2297I used the walking foot with pale yellow Bottom Line by Superior to stitch between all the blocks to keep it square.  Then I switched to free motion and did a small stipple over all the background triangles.  I was worried that dense quilting might make it stiff, but its not at all, and the unquilted geese are especially soft and nice.  Warm and White batting.

IMG_2287I am in love with the rose batik I used for the back.

IMG_2299Stay tuned for version 3, which may be the last of the series!

wind_dandelion3Go to WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden to see more finishes.


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Sunday Stash Report: 3/15/15

IMG_2284The weather here is much improved, and I took pictures of this completed quilt this morning. There will be a post about it later.  It used three and a half yards, and I didn’t buy any.  That can’t last long.  I’m beginning to spot thin places in the stash.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 3.5 yards
This year:  + 26.5 yards,  – 49.25 yards
Net fabric destashed  in 2015:  22.75 yards

2015-03-14 10.12.21What I did buy was a new sewing chair!  I had put this off because I really liked the looks of my old one (an unusual pink/red color), but it really didn’t like my back.  Office Max has lots of it’s chairs on sale, and this is a mid-price one, rated for 6-8 hours at a time.  Sounds about right, hmmm?  I haven’t used it for that long yet, but after a few hours I’m very happy with it.  The height adjusts, and the (short) arms flip up.  It also is much heavier and has broader legs than my old one, so maybe it won’t flip out from under me when I reach for something!

Take care of yourselves, and keep using that stash!  I’m linking up to Patchwork Times.


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WIP: More Geese

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This week I’m working on another little Flying Geese quilt.  I love the precision in making these. 

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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.

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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. 

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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.


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Sunday Stash Report: 3/8/15

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This post is brought to you by Yuri, who says every quilter needs an attractive paper weight.  Actually, he had a strong belief last evening that it was time to feed the cats, and was hoping that if he sat on something important enough I would have to stop my work.  Or that he could stare me into submission.  I had already yelled him for trying to remove pins from my piecing.  I did make him wait till I finished my block.  So there.

No fabric bought, and I used 3 1/2 yards for the Geese baby quilt.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 3.5 yards
This year:  + 26.5 yards,  – 45.75 yards
Net fabric destashed  in 2015:  19.25 yards

Hope all of you are moving your stash in the right direction!  I’m linking up to Patchwork Times.


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Geese Finish

2015-03-06 11.07.16I finished the Geese baby quilt (38″ x 44″) made with Kona Ash and the bright “boy” scraps.  I am really happy with the way it turned out.  I took these photos in the bright sun just to show the quilting.

IMG_2283The quilting is all done with gray Bottom Line by Superior.  I wanted it to just be texture and shadows, no additional color.  The horizontal and vertical lines are all done with the walking foot, then I did the diagonals and the echo quilting in free motion.  It was a little hard to distinguish the geese that are flying horizontally, so I echo quilted inside of them, and I like the result.

IMG_2276The scraps include whales, construction trucks,  baseball equipment, and Mickey Mouse.  I was cleaning out my 6 1/2″ squares, so I made 51/2″finished  blocks to make the most of the fabric.  I used the two-squares-and-a-rectangle method, and this very handy chart to calculate sizes.

2015-03-06 11.07.36This is only the second Flying Geese quilt I’ve ever made, and the other was long ago.  I loved how easily and precisely the blocks went together using this method.  Now I’m going to do another, busier one using pinks!

2015-03-06 11.08.18Can’t wait to see your finishes!  I’m linking up to Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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WIP Wednesday: Geese

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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.

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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.


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Sunday Stash and February/March Goals

IMG_2274Stash

This week I bought no fabric, and used three and a half yards from stash to make this quilt.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 3.5 yards
This year:  + 26.5 yards,  – 42.25 yards
Net fabric destashed  in 2015:  15.75 yards

February Goals

1.  Design and make winter-themed art quilt.  No.  Again.  Sigh.  This just isn’t going to happen.  I made the firescreen cover as a warm-up, but I have no interest in this quilt now.

2.   Audit Jinny Beyer BOM Craftsy Class.  Yes!  Caught up on the instructions.  Tempted to hand piece a block.

3.  Complete Step Two on Charlotte’s Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt.  Yes!  Don’t seem to have photos.

4.  Piece and quilt Disappearing Four Patch with floral fabrics.  Yes!  And made a baby quilt from the scraps.  Here.

March Goals

1. Audit Jinny Beyer BOM Craftsy Class.

2.  Complete Step Three on Charlotte’s Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt.

3.  Continue studio organization.

4. Make mug rug for Sandi’s (Quilt Cabana) swap.

5.  Assemble scrappy log cabin blocks I made a few months ago.

Maybe it’s the winter weather, but I feel very uninspired.  Hope this changes quickly!

I’m linking up to Patchwork Times!


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Turning Down the Volume

IMG_2264Here’s a quilt that’s a bit different for me, since I do like bright color.

2015-02-24 11.51.39I purchased this fat quarter bundle on a whim this fall.  The colors spoke to me.  The gray is pretty, but it overpowers the lights.  I added Kona Azure, but that was also very strong.  I knew I wanted to cut these up as little as possible, so I made 6″ HSTs with them.  I wanted to arrange them in  a random design across the quilt, but it looked terrible.

IMG_2271I finally added some more Azure and made this star.

IMG_2266And (surprise!) I quilted it with feathers.  I used aqua Bottom Line for all the quilting, top and bottom.  It is very restful and soothing, and I was sad when I had no more areas to quilt.

IMG_2267I backed this with an aqua cloud print.  A very successful little quilt.  38″ square.

IMG_2274The snow makes a beautiful backdrop for quilt photos, but enough is enough.  Four to six more inches tonight…  Stay warm and sew, everyone!


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Sunday Stash Report: 2/22/15

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I didn’t have to look up the date today because it’s my son’s twenty-first birthday.  Wow!  I know he’s celebrating with friends at college, and we plan to see him next weekend.

Only completed the fireplace screen cover this week, and had to buy a half yard of home dec fabric for that.  I’ll take these numbers.

This week:  + .5 yards,  – 2.25 yards
This year:  + 26.5 yards,  – 38.75 yards
Net fabric destashed  in 2015:  12.25 yards

Keep warm and keep destashing!  I’m linking up to Patchwork Times.


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Fireplace Screen Cover Finished

wind_dandelion3Greetings from the frozen and snowy lands.  Our snow is only up to Yuri’s belly (calling him Yuri Zhivago as he prowls around the Siberian landscape), but we have had some extreme cold.  t’s better today.  My upstairs studio is a place of relatively warm refuge.  Please remind me of this when I complain in July.

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Several years ago my DH and I bought this beautiful fireplace screen.  We live in the woods, and have leaf motifs on rugs, wallpaper, etc., so we thought it would look good most of the year.  Au contraire, ma soeur!  It looks great September through November, and stupid out of place the rest of the year.  After Pam (Hip to be a Square) made a hanging for her fireplace, I resolved to make a cover for our screen.

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Here is the winter side.  Kind of a whimsical and batik-y fire.  I backed the base fabric with Pellon fusible fleece.

IMG_2249closeI cut all the fabrics freehand and glue-sticked them in place.  I edge-stitched and quilted the logs with various black and brown Sulky threads.  I quilted the flames densely with Superior’s Rainbows in flame tones, and also used my new Fabric Mate markers.  (Question:  have any of you had success at permanently bonding the fleece to cotton fabric?  I have used it a few times, and only get a temporary bond with much effort.  Any suggestions?)

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The summer side could very loosely be called broderie perse, something I’ve loved since I was young.  There are no laboriously turned edges here, though.

IMG_2254 I cut these flowers from home dec fabric and edge-stitched them with invisible thread, and did just a little accent stitching with decorative thread.  I think it’s fresh and fun.  Working on it was a good antidote to the endless white outside!

I’m linking up to WIPs be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden.