Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art


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WIP Wednesday: 7/23/14

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No, Lee isn’t having the linky for a couple of weeks, but I do have progress on a couple of things to report.

On the Log Cabin quilt, I finished all the quilting, trimmed it, and made the label.  With any luck I’ll bind it today.  I quilted each block (24) with a free-motion sun.  I marked two circles on each to guide me, and went from there, in one continuous line for each one.  At first they looked more like flowers, but I found that when I made the center spirals larger, they got more sun-like.  Either way, they are summery.

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I like the way the back looks, too.

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I got super organized and used a few spare minutes to make the binding the other day, but now I’m not so sure.  I usually like a dark edge to frame a quilt, but I might want to use the yellow and orange batik.  What do you think?

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I spent last week’s cool, dry weather cutting and spray painting a new top for our deck table.  Somehow, during that fiercely cold winter, our glass table top shattered.  We just looked out and there it was on the deck.  I priced a piece of replacement glass.  No.  We looked at replacement sets, but didn’t see what we wanted.  Also, we just didn’t want to spend the money on that right now.  And there’s nothing wrong with the rest of the set.  So I bought a piece of plywood, cut it, primed it, painted it, and sealed it.  I hope to get a year or two out of it.  I’m pretty happy with way it turned out.  I knew the newsprint stencil was lifting a little, but I think it looks kind of airbrushed and interesting. We have an orange umbrella, and the other furniture is orange, blue, and lime.

 

AND, I settled on this tutorial for boxy pouches, and bought some interfacing.  I’m creeping up on that project.

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Now I’m going to go clean out my purse to add money to my Piggy Bank Savings pitcher.  Thanks for all the comments on that post, especially Myrna, who warned me that old glass can be brittle.  I’ll add the coins carefully!

 

Hope you’re having a productive week.

 


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Git Along, Little Scraps

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It’s been a dreary, rainy week here.  I know we need it, but it does not energize me to do household tasks.  Sewing seems the best option.

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Amanda Jean’s post about her Scrap Basket Quilt Along for charity prompted me to get out my plaid and cowboy left overs (some “scraps”, but mostly yardage that goes with nothing else).

Interestingly, her post today about choosing colors is much more like what I usually do when starting a scrap quilt.  Color really inspires me, and I usually look to see which fabrics have serendipitously landed next to each other in the scrap basket, and then pull other unexpected but wonderful choices.  For some reason, I went directly to these themed fabrics, feeling a boy would love them far more than I do in my stash.  So my quilts won’t have all those gorgeous colors in them.  Unless I make another…

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So, I made enough  Rail Fence blocks for a plaid quilt.  (The centers are khaki, if you can’t tell.)

 

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And yesterday I made all the cowboy blocks.  I mean, there’s so little else to do with barbed wire print…  I enjoyed remembering the quilt shop, (I believe) Extra Special Fabrics in Guthrie, OK.  (I misidentified it on Twitter as Los Vegas, NM, where I have also purchased fabric, same trip, wrong shop.)  Their specialty is western prints and they have a ton.  I already used up the Roy Rodgers/Dale Evans print I bought there.  We can’t keep it all.

I sewed up every little scrap, except for some yardage for backings.  I figure the extra blocks can go into the back.  And I really don’t want to put any of this back in the drawers.

So, are you going to join us in making fun quilts for a good cause?

 

I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

 


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WIP Wednesday: Picking up the Pace

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I have now completed eight of the sixteen blocks for the Slow Quilt.  Each block is not so very slow, only taking twenty minutes or so to assemble after everything is cut.  This does not at all resemble their final arrangement, which will include sashing, but arranging them on the wall like this does have me considering options.

The reddish solids are Oakshott Cottons that I won last year.  Each block has twenty-eight pieces that I rotary cut and am piecing conventionally.  Paper piecing might have been a good option for the long triangles and diamonds, but they are coming out well with a little care.

The rest will have more peach colors in them.  I was very confused at first in the cutting, and found it best to stick with all the green themed blocks.  I think I have it figured out now.   The results will be more colorful as I make more progress.

 

Hope you are coming along with your projects.

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I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


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Progress on Tops

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I made the first block for the Slow Quilt.  Yes, it’s a modified Storm at Sea block.  It turned out fine.  The only slightly dicey parts were the long triangles (scalene!), but they were okay.  Now to make some more color decisions and do some more cutting.

 

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Meanwhile, my last Beach Quilt sold, so I put together more scraps for another one.  I love to make this pattern!  It practically puts itself together while I think my thoughts.  Also, the fabrics are great.  I will be sad when I am truely out of them.  Maybe one more, scrappier top…  This top is finished, the back is pieced (one seam), now I need to piece the batting, and I hope to sandwich it today.

 

What are you working on?

 

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I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


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The Slow Quilt is…slow.

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So.  Trying to get back into the groove after our short trip.  I was burnt out from all the walking, the allergies are plaguing me (this is new to me, and I’m not good at it), and I may have picked up some germ in Williamsburg.  Plus, DS is home, DH is not, and it’s hard to get a routine going.  Then I look at the fabrics I need to cut and I am SO not sure what to do.  I’m using my Oakshott Cottons, and really don’t want to waste anything.

 

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Today I did cut out fabric for one block, plus the black and white background for all the blocks.  I really like the print, and can’t wait to see what it looks like.

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Of course, about the time I got my sixteen little piles arranged on the sewing table, the thunder and hail began in earnest, and Yuri came running up to the studio.  Touching, really, how he wanted my comfort, but when he skidded to a stop in the middle of all the piles, I don’t think I was very comforting.

They are all clipped or pinned together now, and maybe tomorrow I’ll get the first block sewn together.  Lots of little bits and angles.  We shall see.

 

I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

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Pillow Covers

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I finished up these four pillow covers Monday (two of each).  The tops are made from a great vintage tablecloth.  I don’t have any idea of the age, maybe 1960’s?  Help me out if you know.

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It was in nearly perfect shape, except for a permanent stain near the center.  This allowed my to cut four 18″ tops from the four corners, two of each design.

Without any flaws or thin spots, I didn’t stabilize it with anything, I just treated it like new home dec fabric.

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I layered the tops with cotton batting and white cotton fabric, and did a little curvy quilting on each with variegated pink Sulky rayon.

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The backs are a gray Kona, envelope style with a single dot of Velcro to keep them closed.  I machine bound them with Carnation pink Kona.  These are listed in my Etsy shop, but if they don’t sell soon, they may end of on my sofa!

Hope you are making progress on your projects.

I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


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March-A-Long

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March is winding down, so I wanted to file my report for March-A-Long, #marchalong, hosted by Darla at The Scientific Quilter.  I’m pleased to say that I’ve done very well this year at sewing daily.  The cold weather may deserve some of the credit.  Staying in to sew was most inviting.  So far, I’ve only missed sewing one day, and I did put out a quilty blog post that day, so that counts.

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These pillow cover tops are cut from a vintage tablecloth.  I was waiting for backing fabric, which has arrived, so I should get them made.

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While waiting, I cut up my scraps from one of the construction baby quilts into 3 1/2″ squares and pulled many more from my scrap bins.  This was my first layout.  It felt harsh, and like a checkerboard.

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I cut some more squares from Kona Ash and some pale yellow prints to soften it up.  The finished quilt will be twin sized, but this gives the idea.  I like this much better.

Hope you are doing something quilty every day.

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I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and March-A-Long at The Scientific Quilter.


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Progress on the Disappearing Pinwheel

WIP Wed

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Yesterday I sewed together all the Disappearing Pinwheel blocks for the center of the quilt.  There were lots of points to match, and I found myself forced to use pins.  There was also a lot of wonkiness due to all the bias.  It will be fine, but if I ever made another I would make my own pinwheels first, in an evenly divisible size, rather than use the technique shown here.  But I like the fabrics together.

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I also sewed 88 scrappy HSTs for the outer border.  This is already pretty large, and I ran out of orange fabric, so it’s not getting much of a border.

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I am going to use all this peachy tone-on-tone space for some feathers.  I was studying up last night from these three books, including my Christmas gift, Fabulous Feathers and Fillers by Sue Nichols.  This book has useful information on designing and drafting feathers, but isn’t exactly what I thought it would be.  She makes beautiful feathers, on a home machine, but they are very tight and regular, and she marks them all first.  I’m looking for something more organic and freehand.  Karen McTavish’s are like that, although she’s using a long arm, as does Judy Woodworth.  I seem to make mine in a different direction than they do.  I don’t know if that’s important, but I’m going to think about it.

I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

 


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Progress on Scrapitude

WIP Wed

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Here is a portion of the finished Scrapitude quilt top.  It’s about 80″ square, so it’s hard to get a picture of all of it.  I’m happy with results.  The background is several shell pink fabrics, which give it a warm look.  See more results from various quiltmakers at the Flickr page.

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I have about 3/4 of the quilting finished, and I like it a lot.  I’m especially enjoying the orange peel/overlapping circle motif I’m doing in the background.  It’s very relaxing to do.

I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

 

 

 


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Putting It All Together (Scrapitude)

WIP Wed

 

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This week I finished the two commissions (pics on Friday!), and started putting the Scrapitude top together.  I was a little intimidated by it, but it’s going together pretty well.  I don’t set blocks on point very often, and I tend to get confused about it, but so far, so good.  There isn’t room to lay it all out.  I have more than half the blocks together, and just need to join these rows, and make the last three.  We’ve been discussing borders, but I think I’m just going to bind it the way it is.  It’s for my guest room, and I don’t want it too big.

Hope you’re making progress on your projects.
I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.