Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Tag Archives: Valerie Root


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Bright Baby Finish

IMG_2206aThis week I got off to a great start by sewing up a little quilt that was easy, fun, and all about the scraps.  I sewed it up quickly before I could over-think it, and I enjoyed every step.  An auspicious start to the new year!

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At Christmas, I went through my 6 1/2” scrap drawer to find pieces for the tissue holders, similar to these, and spotted these six different prints, all from different projects, I think.  I pulled 28 squares, paired them with 28 squares of Kona White to make half-square triangles, and tossed them up on the design wall.  The first try was a slight fail, but was soon adjusted to make a light, airy quilt of girly prints against a white background.

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The stash also yielded this perfect piece of batik for the back.  Not only is it gorgeous on its own, but it saved the quilt from being too pink.  I used the trimmings from the back to bind the quilt, careful to offset the colors so that it contrasts a little with the back.

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This time I didn’t begin the quilting by stitching between the blocks, or by basting it with water-soluble thread as I have with the other chevrons.  I reasoned that it is a small quilt, and that my feather spines would serve to stabilize it instead. Apparently, it worked, because it all turned out flat and square and fine.

For the feathers, I marked the spines and then quilted the rest free-hand.  For the vines, I drew one side of each vine and traced a circle every place a flower would go, then free-handed the leaves and flowers.  On largish flowers, I need that guidance or my flowers don’t turn out very round.

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I quilted that part with a pretty variegated thread from Signature that gave my a few fits.  It wasn’t the thread so much as the way the spool was made.  I solved it in a low tech way.

I didn’t add any extra batting to poof the feathers, and I really like all the crinkly texture that resulted.

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I hope all of you are finding time to sew things that give you pleasure in 2015!


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Green Rail Fence Finish

IMG_2204This morning I finally put the binding on the chartreuse rail fence quilt.  I chose a medium blue (Kona, Candy Blue, I think) to bring out the blue in the prints.  I always use a 2″ binding, sewn to the back with a 1/4″ foot, then sewn to the front with a blind stitch. (Tutorial here. Yuri helps!)

IMG_2201bIMG_2203bIt washed up nice and cuddly, but I will need to lint roll it for a few pills.  I discuss quilting it here.  Again, yeah, Yuri helps.  What would I do without that cat?

IMG_2202bMy 20 year old DS (home from college) likes to lounge in my studio and offer opinions, and he was very positive about the colors in these donation quilts.  He often faults me for not using bright enough colors, and he thought these were great.  With any luck they will be as appreciated by the kids who receive them.

IMG_2200bFor me, this quilt takes me over the hundred yards net use of fabric mark, and it clears my stash of fabrics that have overstayed their welcome.  Win, win!

And I’m on to one final Christmas project, a t-shirt quilt for DH, with a fleece backing, so it won’t affect the numbers (I currently don’t expect to use fabric, there are so many shirts), but should be fun to sew on these days leading up to Christmas.

Hope you’re finishing everything you wish!  I’m linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Sunday Stash Report: 12/14/14

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The sewing definitely lost out to the Christmas shopping, dining out, and wrapping this week.  And what I did make were gifts,  so I didn’t post any progress.  They only used 1.5 yards.  This is a teaser, freehand roses quilted in metallic thread.

This week: + 0 yards, -1.5 yards
YTD: +126.25 yards, -221.5 yards
Net stash used 2014: -95.25 yards

Creeping up on it…

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Here’s a Christmas puzzler for you.  See if you can spot the cat who’s not allowed on the table.  You’ll have to look very closely, she’s sure that sitting perfectly still and avoiding eye contact makes her invisible.  Right.

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


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Blue Christmas Finish

IMG_2183Yesterday I finished and washed up Blue Christmas, another in my series of procrastination scrap quilts as I ponder the quilting for the Slow Quilt.  In going through my Christmas and pine cone fabrics, I discovered an untidy pile of blue holiday and winter fabrics.

IMG_2186Two of them were coordinating fabrics with vignettes that I have previously fussy cut, hence the messiness.  I wanted to fussy-cut them again, but wanted something different from my framed squares quilts (see Christmas Birds and Christmas Plaid).  I was intrigued by the Economy Block (square-in-a-square) craziness from earlier in the year, and I thought it would display this fabric really well.  I stumbled across a great tutorial at Catbird Quilts.  Melanie gives a lot of info about the math and construction, and then does the math for us, creating a table for various sized blocks.  She also has a link to seventeen different sets she designed for this block, and I stole the very best one, Jewel Box.  Go there and look at this great stuff.  I had already made mine up on EQ7 and used their rotary cutting directions, which make the block to size, without trimming, so I didn’t try out her measurements.

IMG_2185This is quilt was straight forward and easy to sew, although it does require a tad of pinning, unlike my previous two.  I ran into a couple of snags, but that was just me.  First, just as I was congratulating myself for using up nearly every bit of the fabric, I discovered that I hadn’t made enough blocks.  It’s not that I can’t multiply; it’s that I can’t remember the total I planned to make for a particular quilt.  I’m going to have to start posting a sticky note above my cutting table instead of trusting my brain.  So out of almost no fabric I had to come up with six more blocks, three of each.  I dove back into the Christmas Scrap Locker and came up with some soft green and bits of navy and green reindeer to add into the previously all blue quilt.  Fortunately, I had more of the darker solids I was using.  And I like the way it turned out.

IMG_2190The other problem was with the quilting thread.  I honestly think I got a bad cone of Bottom Line.  I hadn’t changed my machine settings at all, but when I opened this new cone of light blue and started in, it did nothing but shred and twist and break.  New needle, rethreading, changing tension, etc., nothing really helped.  I slowed down and tried not to cuss too much, and it turned out okay, but with a lot more stops and starts than I like.  I see some tails and thread boogers I still need to clean up.

IMG_2189I’m not sure the photos show it, but this quilt has lots glitter and metallic accents on it, besides all the Christmas motifs.  And the back is a glittery, almost snow-flaky fabric for which I was glad to find a home.  Blue is not a color I use that often, but I like this quilt.

IMG_2192So, this may be the last Christmas scrap quilt this year… Who knows?  But I am making inroads into that old Christmas fabric!  Hope you are finding some time to sew and meeting some of your goals!


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Sunday Stash Report: 10/26/14

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As I stopped and started repeatedly on another project, I filled in the time by creating this Blue Christmas quilt.  More photos and a post soon when the light is better.  It used seven and a half yards, and I didn’t buy a thing.

This week: +0 yards, -7.5 yards
YTD: +113.25 yards, -179.75 yards
Net stash used 2014: -66.5 yards

Can I make one hundred?  We’ll see!

Carry on with your destashing!  I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Sunday Stash Report: 10/19/14

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Nothing in this week, but two yards out.  I’m sending some strips to Darla for a project.  Otherwise, we’ve been a bit lazy about sewing.

This week: +0 yards, -2 yards
YTD: +113.25 yards, -172.25 yards
Net stash used 2014: -59.00 yards

The Stash seems so massive, and I have two whole basket drawers of green, but do I have medium to dark greens?  No, not so much.  What I have seems to be lots of light green and apple green (I’m saying “apple” to be kind to it.  Some is practically flourescent.  Anyone making a quilt like that?  Very happy to help.)

Also, purple.  Why do I have so much and so many shades of purple?  Hmmm.  Purple and lime?  Well, if this happens, you’ve been warned!

Have a great week, and use that stash!
I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Sunday Stash Report 10/12/14

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This week I used 8.5 yards from stash for the Christmas Plaid quilt.  Also, 18 yards of batiks arrived from Hancocks of Paducah, but I’m not sorry.  At $3.99/yd, these will make some gorgeous backs.  A minor setback for the numbers.

This week: +18 yards, -8.5 yards
YTD: +113.25 yards, -170.25 yards
Net stash used 2014: -57.00 yards

Still two and a half months to go!  Lots of time to use more!
Have a good week!
I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Christmas Plaid Finish

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Yesterday I finished the Christmas Plaid quilt.  I think maybe it looks better in person, with all its bling, than in the photos.  It’s a lot darker cozier than Christmas Birds, kind of Dickensian.

IMG_2170This quilt is 50″ x 70″, quilted with Superior “Glitter” , “New Brites” , and “Bottom Line” threads.

IMG_2168The plaid fabric continued to be uncooperative (see my whining here).  I probably should have interfaced it.  It washed up fine, though, and is all neat and square, in spite of how squishy some of these blocks look.

IMG_2172The backing looks kind of brown, doesn’t it?  I used a rose beige thread on the bottom, and had a lot of trouble even seeing it, it blended so well.

IMG_2173Actually, it is a pair of unrelated but very coordinating red, green, gold, and white Christmas prints.  I think they were my mother’s, and they hadn’t made it into the front of any projects because of the “brown” problem.  They are beautiful and interesting up close.

2014-10-11 09.00.10This may be the last Christmas quilt for this year.  On the other hand, I discovered more fabric under my pine cone fabric.  And I’ve been looking at my blue Christmas fabric, which is another category entirely.  Hmmm…

Thanks for looking, and I hope you’re finding sewing time!


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Design Wall Monday: More Christmas

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Here’s what’s going on with more of the Christmas scraps.  Its a little dark and busy for my taste, but I’m choosing to regard it as rich and cosy for the winter time.  What do you think?

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The plaid centers completely used up a fabric remnant I’ve had for ages.  It’s truely beautiful, but I really don’t know what it was sold for, or why I bought it.  I was seduced by the gold threads, I guess.  It’s very thin (voile?), and when washed became a wrinkled mess, which ironed into a very crooked plaid.  Ater years of looking at it, I finally found the patience to cut into it.  I thought about using scissors, but I needed every inch of it.  After pinning it together every six inches, I was able to rotary cut it into mostly straigh six inch squares.  Stabilized by the fabric frames, I think it will work okay in this quilt.

So what’s on your design wall?  I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.


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Christmas Finish

IMG_2159Early this week I finished the Christmas Bird Quilt.  (Krissi is assisting here.)  A Christmas scrap quilt was on my September goals list, but I had no idea it would turn out like this.  I was thinking of something random and scrappy, maybe with white, or cut into strings.

IMG_2160When I opened my Christmas scrap locker (yes, I have one…), this bird fabric caught my eye.  I had a yard each of two of them (I think I bought them when my mom and I used to wrap Christmas gifts in quilt fabric.), but not much of the prettiest one.  It looked like Swiss cheese, as I had fussy cut it for a quilt years ago.  So I fussy cut it again, into four-inch squares and framed them in a similar, unrelated fabric to bring them up to the six-inch squares of the other prints.  Then I used a red batik and various holiday green scraps to frame each bird square, making them ten inches.

IMG_2162The whole quilt is 50″ x 70″.  I used every bit of the red fabric, doing some very creative piecing (this is patchwork we do, after all), but after quilting and washing, it hardly shows.

IMG_2161Some of the borders were bits of beautiful red, green, and gold swag prints that I had carefully cut and matched on another project a couple years ago.  In this case, all I could do was whack it up, throw it on, and see what happened.  And I like it.  In spite of the randomness, it really adds an old fashioned Christmas feeling.

IMG_2163IMG_2164I love the backing fabric.  It’s more green and gold than this shows, so it goes well, and it shows the quilting.  I used all Superior Bottom Line (50 wt.) thread, light green on the back, red and green and the front.

IMG_2166I think this will be a donation to my YMCA.  They have an auction every November.  Not only do I do my fitness there, but they sponsor my virtual farmer’s market, where I order on line and pick up produce there weekly.

And there will be a scrappier Christmas quilt this year or next.  Maybe.

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