Repurposing Finish

Finally done, and I'm happy with this wall hanging. The center block was enhanced with a silver sharpie to give a stronger contrast to the fabric pattern on the watering can, plus some satin stitching on the edges. 45" x 16 1/2". The boots block is called "Repurposing", the series is called "Nesting".

Two Twins

Lego Twin #1

Lego Twin #1 and Backing

Lego Twin #2, quilting pattern "Bauhaus"

Lego Twin #1 and #2 are finished and gifted, both 84"  x 61". The Lego backing fabric inspired me to make quilts for my neighbor's boys.  It is 64" wide so as a backing it didn't need to be pieced, but it was on backorder for a couple of months.  The colored stripes are from two Moda Marbles jelly rolls, with some replacement and additional strips. The pink strips were pulled, and replaced with the dark green and royal blue strips, and some additional red strips were added to have enough strips. The royal isn't the same fabric line but very close. I did need to purchase the dark green marbles fabric, otherwise all the top and binding fabrics were from stash. 

One of the grey fabrics had sun fading on the folded edges, as it was in in front of a wire basket in the studio. There was a large enough piece of some sun-resistant outdoor fabric to make a simple hemmed cover for the three basket stacks, and I'll have to be careful to check other fabrics that had been near the front of the baskets.

In my Knitting, after swatching for a couple different sweaters, I've settled on making a cabled version of a simple top-down raglan. I was expecting to have blue fingers as the cotton is indigo-dyed, but so far only the wooden cable needle is showing the color. The sweater is in my Ravelry projects.

 

 

Oh the Irony!

After finally getting the 3 Blocks applique project (previous post) assembled, the reality that my main sewing/applique machine Bernina 550 needed service hit. The service icon had been up for several weeks, and DH was making a trip near the sewing machine shop, so off it went. Ouch on the estimate. 

The applique project has been pin-basted and carefully folded up awaiting the return of the 550, practice with the Bernina Stitch Regulator, and finishing. Out from the closet came the old retreat machine, my beloved Bernina 1130 that is fortunately in good working order, and I've plowed through an entire rail fence top with no problems.

Then… piecing machine #2 had a broken tension spring. It’s an older Juki straight stitch. I don’t know how long I had been sewing on it with a broken spring. Lately I’d been hemming repurposed fabric for pillow covers and flat cloths. After a lengthy search online, hopefully the right tension spring ($10) has been located and ordered – cheaper than another $$ trip to the repair shop – which is option #2 if my repair doesn’t work.

And the walking foot on my studio machine, mainly used for binding, heavy work and piecing battings, had a break on the plastic casing of the walking foot that holds the quilting bar. This machine is sometimes called into service for heavy duty quilting. DH found a plastic washer and epoxy and glued it on the outside of the casing to hold the guide foot in place. The cost of a new walking foot for this older Janome wasn't justified as the walking foot works fine and the guide bar is only in occasional use.

Think positive thoughts for my old Bernina and the serger.

Three Blocks

 Three blocks from McKenna Ryan's "Nesting" pattern, fused but not yet stitched.

I waited until the block patterns were on sale, and it took me over a year to actually start on the blocks. Once I got going, it was assembled in about a week. The blocks were enlarged from 8" to 12", and even so some pieces were very small. I'd done one of McKenna's patterns many years ago. I changed up the colors quite a bit - had to have a red boot, re-drew the birds to look like goldfinches, and the wheelbarrow needed to be blue like ours. The center block watering can has a scrolling design, and I'll probably enhance the design and give it more weight with thread as it looks washed out.

Friday Finishes

I've wanted to make a picnic quilt for over a year, and had all kinds of designs in mind. Wide canvas in green was purchased for the backing, so there was a target size - 56 x 68. Finally, the utility of the quilt pointed to a simple design, squares cut 4 1/2". The starting fabric was a gifted piece that was challenging to use, it has large white un-finished paint by number bird and flower images (Moda - Lush Uptown 'Paint by Number' by Erin Michael.) I loved the red background, and since there was a lot of green, a red and green checker quilt was the goal. Almost half of the red blocks were able to be cut from the print, and other reds were pulled in.

For the greens, one floral print with white and yellow flowers was the main fabric, and assorted leafy prints rounded out the green blocks. Most of the squares are laid out in diagonal strips of varying lengths. They seem to pull the eye along instead of jumping from print to print. There's a bit of "mushiness" where one floral was almost half-green/half red, but it was a sentimental piece and needed to be included.

Keeping with the no-stress design, straight lines -- two through each square in each direction, were quilted on the longarm. They are equal distant from each seam, and the center opening is slightly larger (4 doesn't divide by 3 easily.) On a domestic machine I continued with stitch-in-the-ditch along all seams.

Also finished is knitted Little Dragon #6, grey with pink accents. I had to figure out how to make the "afterthought" bobbles, where in the pattern they are knit from the main body color.

Project Round-up

I love seeing quilts photographed outside, though the weather has to cooperate. I had thought our horse fencing and cedar fence would be a great place to hang quilts...until it was clear that the birds love to sit on the top rail, especially the robins and quail. The salal is in berry right now, not so tidy. Smaller quilts can be photographed on the design wall, but the lighting can still be a challenge.

Bricks 6-piece charity quilt, 88” x 60.5” 

There are a lot of quilts made with these colors, to the point that it's getting hard to pick the correct picture from the folder! This is a scrappy bricks-type quilt, with only 6 pieces per block. The block is a rectangle, and the sizes are limited since you alternate vertical and horizontal columns. Of course partial blocks could be an option. It gives a different look than the square blocks with 8 pieces.

Preemie Quilt, Chicken Panel

The last two preemie quilts made from chicken fabric - one panel and a coordinate that I picked up at a guild meeting for this purpose. I thought this tilted setting might be more interesting than a straight set, though if using such a panel again would stick to a straight set.

Dragon #5, Ozzie's

Dragon #5 is another mini, about 6" tall. Each one gets a bit more refined. I've used up almost all of the poly batting scraps that were pulled apart for stuffing.  I'm tempted to buy a bag to continue knitting toys. I've also fallen in love with a sewing pattern for a cat named "Mr. Socks" at Ann Wood Handmade, though she uses wool stuffing. 

I'm piecing the last 24 of the Twirla blocks, and sewing masks in small batches. I bought the Creative Grids mask template with three sizes, and have been adding 1" to the outside fabric on the straight end to make a casing for elastic, similar to a downloadable free pattern used earlier. Sewing in the elastic makes it harder to adjust the size, plus some elastic gives out after time. 

I saw a tip on the Selvage Blog about using a bead to make the elastics adjustable, and have a question in to her on the bead specifics. I've made masks for several neighbors of all sizes, and getting the elastic the right length is a challenge. With a casing at the sides, pleats aren't needed, and I've been making the elastic a loop tied with a knot, so they can be adjusted, but the bead idea looks slick. I've made some with long ties too, using a bias maker, as they are supposed to be more comfortable for those who wear glasses and/or wear masks all day (such as DH.)

Slowly, Slowly Catchy Dragon

9-Patch Plus, started from a small group of 2.5" squares, some gifted to me, others cut from scraps. Quilted with a combination of freehand curves on the longarm and diagonal stitching on the Juki. I thought the curves would help soften all the straight lines, and kept notes on doing a variation that doesn't put so many threads in the center of each 9-patch block.

9-Patch Plus, 54" x 42'

Mini "Little Dragon", 5 inches tall

This little fellow didn't want to leave the house, and hung around until Dragon #4 was finished.

Mini "Little Dragon", 6 inches tall

The next dragon, another "mini" version, will be a combination of yarns from #3 and #4.
Also in progress are Twirla blocks, and the first of two aqua "Bricks" quilts is ready for binding..

Two Finishes

Yesterday was very rainy, which kept me out of the garden and at work in the studio. Finally bound is "Crayons", based on Color Me by Emily Herrick. This quilt was my way of justifying my large box of strings. It is waiting for a special home, either to a friend or a raffle.

Crayons, 69.5” x 51.5” 

Quilting pattern "Spilled Ink"

Several years ago, a friend gave a demonstration at an American Sewing Guild meeting making a rope basket using clothesline as the core, wrapping strips of fabric around it as you stitched. She had purchased extra bundles of clothesline and I bought one. I'd made coiled baskets before using yarn, which is a slow process. Not long ago I saw some baskets made just with variegated thread, and really liked how they looked. I needed a container for the studio for collecting the leftover bits of projects to come back into the house. This was sized to fit a wall shelf. 

It used up all 100 feet of clothesline and some of the older 30 wt variegated thread that I prefer not to use on the longarm. It took only 6 bobbins and less than 2 hours total. The top binding is home dec weight fabric scraps. I also used a new tool, the Folded Corner Clipper to cut the binding ends before sewing together for a continuous binding.  Krista Moser had demonstrated the tool at a meeting and has a Youtube video demonstrating it. It was really fun and easy to stitch the basket.

Clothesline bowl

Little Dragon

"Little Dragon" pattern by Susan B. Anderson, finished size 8" tall. It was a goal to finish some charity scarves before buying this pattern, and it was finished within one week. A bit fiddly, but just as charming as the pattern photo, though a bit larger. The yarn is probably an Aran weight, an overdyed natural grey that was a bit rough for a hat and not enough for a scarf. There will likely be a 2nd dragon with this yarn and perhaps a third, smaller version in sock weight yarn.

Latest Finishes

Much gardening is happening now, both real and online. We're spreading the most recent load of mulch and trying to get the grass established in the area recently raised to prevent being underwater. The vegetable garden (all raised beds) is in full swing, and a couple of ornamental plant orders should be arriving soon.  The Master Gardener training is all online for now and it's very informative.  With the class, reading list and assignments it's also cutting into sewing time. I'm looking forward to eventually having field trips.

The Spiderweb Quilt is finished, and washed with some color-catchers. There had been a bit of color bleeding when I wetted down the lumpy intersections. There was still a small spot of bleeding through to the light backing.

Spiderweb Quilting

The Scrappy Crayons is ready for quilting, and stash had just the right backing. Lately I've been seeing more of my gifted quilts being used on the floor, so wanted a dark backing. This is also why I chose the tiny black/white check as the sashing and background for the tips.

Scrappy Crayons

In progress are two tops, one started from a collection of 2.5" squares, 9-patch layouts and the other is a shoeboxes full of "bricks", cut 5.5" x 3.5" blue/green/aqua, making a rectangle with 8 pieces per block. The nine-patches are fun to sew, and putting all the blocks up helps me to see what color fabrics are needed to fill it out. I'm ready to cut out a new project, but holding off until these two tops are sewn. 

Nine patch blocks in progress

There's an accumulation of partial bobbins with brown and green thread, which is pointing at the next top being a brown and green charity quilt cut out and ready for sewing. It's another "gingham" style quilt, all squares, and has s backing fabric with it.

Spring projects

Gardening is in full swing now, and there is less sewing going on than in the past couple of months. I'm also studying to become a Master Gardener.  I've made a few masks, so far just for our use (I've offered to neighbors and family who declined.) Living in a sparsely populated area has its advantages, so we use the masks just for shopping trips. About 2/3 of the customers at Home Depot were wearing masks, and those who didn't wear one also had no clue about personal space (waaay less than 6 feet.)

The other non-quilty sewing consisted of two pillow covers for the new sofas. Previously I'd re-covered two cushions and hemmed a large piece of yardage to protect the back of the sofa from the sun. Using an outdoor fabric that is both fade-resistant and washable, the covers overlap on the back side with a narrow hem, without zippers or buttons. 

The current obsession project is scrappy crayons. I've finished eight strips - yellow, orange, pink, red, light green, green and light blue, with two more to come. Some colors did not have as many fabric options. These are mainly narrow trimmings from quilt backings or scraps. It's a bit fussy but I like how it is looking.

The floral HST quilt is quilted, bound and labeled for donation. Finished size is 76" x 64".. Quilted with "Wildflowers".

Twin Boxes is quilted and bound. I'm not sure where it is headed. Size: 85.5" x 68.5", quilted with "Bauhaus".

The Spiderweb top is assembled. It was a bit of a slog, but I persisted. The intersections are not as accurate as I would have liked. Using the spray bottle liberally when pressing, the Rinseaway stabilizer softened up a lot at the intersections. Originally I was planning on a busy backing, then realized that spiderweb quilting would be fun if it shows on the back, so I found a light grey print. I may quilt a couple of spiders on it too. This is a small lap-sized quilt.

Motivation

I’ve been looking at spider web quilts for a while now, and added quite a few to a Pinterest board. The versions with a matching narrow band on each side of the center kite shape were appealing. I used rinse-away stabilizer as the foundations, as it could be left in place and would make the small scraps stronger. A small quilt was drawn up in EQ8, the size determined by the width of the rinse-away, and a trial set of 12 triangles cut. A yellow paisley was chosen for the centers, and one of the colors in the fabric – red – cut into 1” strips.

The best part about scrappy quilts is the variety of fabrics, and the chance to use things up. There are lots of strings waiting to be used, and after sewing the red strips to the 12 yellow kites, I started stringing the blocks along. And after pressing, it was apparent that the blocks were too much the same. The narrow red strips seemed too strong. So, the triangles were tossed in the trash.

Then they were rescued, after I realized they didn't all need to have red sashings. I was able to find variety for both the center kites and narrow strips. I also realized that if all the centers were sewn with the sashing pairs, it would be easy to mix them up and use long strings for the other pieces.

I wound up with 3 center fabrics, adding a red bandana print (2 similar prints) and a bright blue with yellow flowers. The paisley has both red and blue in the print. The narrow 1" sashings were cut either 8.5” long (for 2 triangles) or 17” long (4 triangles), since I wanted them to match for sets of 4. After sewing the first side and pressing, they were cut apart and the second side sewn and pressed (as above.) Next I’ll cut these apart, mix them up, and start sewing the next strips on. Some will be long, and I’ll also make use of short strips and even some triangle scraps to fill them out.

Quilts A-Plenty

Another catch-up post with many finished quilts. I made a batch of NICU quilts with fabric picked up at a quilt meeting. I learned to investigate the nicely folded fabrics, as one piece had actually been cut out as a dress. Still, I was able to cut hourglass blocks for (almost) 2 small quilts. I had to piece some of them and made some surprise pinwheels as a secondary pattern.

2 NICU quilts 36" x 24"

There were two chicken panels, one with a wide border (which I split) around tossed chickens, and another with chicken blocks. These two were quilted with my chicken wire pattern. The last two quilts still need to be quilted.

2 NICU quilts 36" x 24"

The gingerbread man cutting die was on backorder until after Christmas, and when it finally arrived I cut some bright plaid people for a NICU quilt.  I thought they turned out cute and need to raid the scrap tub for more 6" "people" blocks. 

NICU quilt 36" x 24"

Scrapbag Strippy - using rectangles cut 4.5" wide and blue 2..5" WOF strips gave this quilt structure. It was a fun and easy way to use up odd sizes of fabrics. The rows were laid out on the design wall to distribute the fabrics.

Scrapbag Strippy 71" x 45"

Two charm pack gifts and some green FQ's won from a blogger's contest came together for a simple checker quilt. I opted to use the FQ squares in two rows together, giving just a bit of structure. The borders and binding were cut from a green ombre fabric that I found challenging to use. The quilt was quilted with "Lush Leaves" and gifted to a young neighbor.

Charms & Greens 80" x 62"

A twin quilt that had been cut out months ago was quickly pieced, assembled and quilted for a friend's church that had requested more quilts for their transitional housing units. One simple block, with an offset square. I'll make this pattern again.

Offset Squares 91" x 61"

This quilt was pieced by my son when he was about 10. It was never used, and I gave it a quilting update to make it strong enough for a charity quilt.

Space Quilt 36" square

Another oldie - a canning jar swap quilt from perhaps 20 years ago? Recently pulled out of storage and given to a neighbor. The two jars on their side have buttons - ladybug and bees "flying" away.

Two feather block placemats, quilted in a chevron pattern on the Juki. Originally pieced for a bag using a quilt as you go Craftsy class. A UFO finish.

In progress is a half-square triangle quilt, using a floral print plain block alternating with HST blocks from pale blue shirt fabric with colors pulled from the print.

Scrappy strippy

Sea Strippy, 50" x 43.5"

As I organize and condense fabrics, groups that seem to go together appear. There was a small bundle of fish prints, most cut WOF but different widths. There would have been a lot of waste trying to come up with cut sizes that would fit together. In the green drawer a piece of solid jade green fabric popped out that went with all the prints, and I realized a scrappy strippy quilt would work.  A couple of the pieces had short rectangles, and one print was just a small chunk, so they became a scrappy strip. A two-yard piece of a similar green fabric (a not quite what I expected online sale purchase) worked for the backing and binding.

Such a simple quilt, quilted with a quick wavy line that looks like ocean waves, and it made me so happy to put these fabrics to use in a small Kid's charity quilt. Working in a smaller scale is fun for a change, and is helping to use up batting scraps.

Little Quilts, Little Changes

My local quilt group had a request for more NICU-sized quilts two meetings ago, and I've been coming up with cute yet simple quilts. The last two batches have had an envelope edge (turned instead of binding.) Last week I picked up some fabrics earmarked for the little quilts, and I'm considering using my bias tape maker to make bindings. I've found the tool works fine with straight-of-grain fabric as well as bias fabric. The smaller quilts have pieced heart blocks, and the center quilt is a heart print. I'm hoping they will be available around Valentine's Day, but are cute any time of year.

NICU Quilts

 
The small changes have been helpful in the sewing room. I realized that my ironing board was too high for me, and with hand and neck pain any repeated work is not very comfortable. Lowering the table about 4" really helped. The other change was a new rotary cutting blade. It took me a while to find the packet of blades, but it was worth the hunt. I'd already replaced my old mat with a new one. And lastly I bought a sturdy stepstool for my studio, which allows me to make better use of the 8' x 8' design wall.

Today I pieced and pressed three bindings, two of which are for quilts not yet quilted. One binding went on the finished quilt below, which was made from a set of sample fabrics. A couple of extra fabrics and some trimmed down leftover 9-patches were added. I was able to photograph the quilt pinned higher on the design wall so there isn't a corner of the longarm in the way.

Floral Squares, 49.5” x 36” 

The Scrap Cats quilt was made with leftovers from a kit made several years ago. It's surprising how much fabric was leftover. The fabric line is XOXO The Cat by In The Beginning. My favorite fabric is the white "notepad" fabric with notes from the cat, such as "Put away that suitcase, you are not going anywhere. XOXO The Cat."

Scrap Cats, 75.5” x 63.5”

Fraternal Twins

Add caption

At last the two strippy quilts are finished, 64" x 41.5". The two hedgehog prints had been bundled with an odd orange strip that matched one of the colors for several years. It seemed like there was always "one more thing" to do. Pin, sew, press strip pairs, repeat. Choose a backing, a quilting pattern, thread colors. Find binding fabric, cut, sew, press repeat. It was a good way to use yardage with very little waste. The labels ended up being a project in themselves.




The charity organization had specific instructions for wording on the labels. In the past I've used a pigma pen with mixed results. They usually end up bleeding and looking blurry. I decided to use one of the alphabets on my Janome machine, and started testing. Working without a hoop really requires an iron-on interfacing to prevent puckers and shifting. Chalk helped keep the four lines of text lined up. I used the same grey fabric as the backing and a bright orange poly thread for contrast. Two or so hours later, the labels were stitched, hemmed, and sewn to the quilts.

2020 First Finish

Yay - Kira #2 with Birds is not only finished but also in its new home with a neighbor. I love the pale yellow batik print with birds, and it took a long time to find the right project. My neighbor has a pet parakeet and it seemed a good fit for her little girl.

Kira #2, 75.5” x 60.5”

Two lap strippy quilts are loaded on the machine for quilting. They're sewn together as one quilt with spacers as they weren't quite the same size. They are WOF strips and I left the selvedges on to make it easier to piece them together.

At the sewing machine is a simple twin quilt made of 2 charm packs and some green FQs that I won in a checkerboard layout. 

I've been crocheting washcloths with a cotton/linen blend from stash, and with some rough fibers in the yarn this is a better fit than a hat or cowl. I found some compatible cotton blend yarns for a colorwork sweater to go with yarn in stash that has been long discontinued, and need to swach both stockinette and the colorwork pattern in the round.

2020 Goals

Though I may shift back and forth between projects, if there is a clear deadline the finish is a more direct line. Currently none of my projects in progress have deadlines, so making a list will help me finish them off (I love crossing things off the list!)

My UFO list is a Word document with "in-progress" at the top, and finished at the bottom. For 2019, there were 41 finishes total- mostly quilts, and quite a few house items, ranging from table runners to quilted pillows. I've tried to document the quilts here as well as on my Pinterest board - Finished Quilts.


2020 Goals


Quilt the tops already finished 

• Kira "Birds" on the longarm
• Twin Boxes
• Twin Stacked
• Scrap Cats.

Assemble & quilt 99 Wonky courthouse steps blocks

Piece and complete quilts cut out

• 2 charity strippie lap quilts (hedgehog fabrics)
• Plaid-ish Twin
• Bricks #1 Blue/aqua/green Twin – 3” x 5.5” bricks
• Bricks #2, blue/aqua/green Twin– 2.5” x 4.5” bricks
• Charms & Green Twin - all 5" squares
• Brown & green “gingham” twin quilt, cut 6” squares
• Red/gold offset blocks twin 

Finish UFOs 

• red dahlia
• feather placemats
• quail applique block from Corinne (embroider red berries, quilt)
• chicken blocks

Basket for closet storage

I also keep a Quilting Queue board on Pinterest, and having images of the patterns helps me keep them straight.