First Finish

The first finished quilt on the new longarm is bound, photographed and folded into the cupboard to be a gift quilt. Both the top and back are flannel - unusual for me. The top has large pieces so it's not too lumpy. The quilting pattern is Fleur dy Lys, the pantograph that came with the machine. It is  leafy without being leaves and was a good scale.

Flannel Baby, 55" x 36.5"

I've quilted two other quilts that need binding before being photographed. The garage is slowly being emptied out, books, fabric, tools etc. The sewing room in the house (2nd bedroom) is fairly stuffed, and there will probably be tubs of fabric under our bed before the garage has room for the truck.

Studio Update

Design wall in empty studio

 It was easier to use the design wall when the studio was almost empty!

Design wall in studio currently

It still works now, I just have to move to both sides of the machine and really take a good look. And then come back the next day and see what was missed.
Scrappy Batiks close-up

This was started from a group of orca print batiks that I was gifted, and my goal was to use large pieces. The blocks finish at 11", and because of the side strips it allowed me to cut four pieces from full WOF pieces. 

Chickens

Chickens Top, 60" x 55"

Plaid Chickens top, from a new pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew. A glue stick was helpful instead of pinning the very small (1") pieces, and I also had to analyze best pressing options during assembly as they were not provided. I made labels for the pieces, as they were referenced both by size and by letter - and with two different blocks there was a lack of clarity.

The backing is pieced from a second set of matching fat quarters, maker unknown.

My new quilt studio is coming along. The floor went in last week, and this week the inside window trim is in progress. Left to come on the construction: a gutter and a doorknob. The first thing inside will be an 8' x 8' (96" square) design wall, attached to the wall. Previously I had a 4' x 8' wall (the board is being recycled here) and two 4' x 6' loose boards in my studio. Both were awkward to use as one was behind an ironing board and the movable boards were repositioned for access quite frequently.

Charms Plus

Charms Plus 80.5” x 67”

A fabric box pull - fabrics that had been grouped for a quilt, completely different than this one. Nine inch blocks plus a two inch border - the border really finished it off, plus used more scraps. This is the 14th top waiting for a longarm.

Studio update - the interior is ready to paint, then lights, window trim, floors and paint and put hardware on the door. 

Tracking Tops

One after another, I'm finishing quilt tops and setting them aside for the eventual longarm. The studio looks finished from the outside (aside from a gutter), inside it is insulated and has wallboard on the ceiling. I tried using pants hangers to photograph the full quilts, but they don't have enough grip for just a top. These are the "hanger view" of folded tops for reference, to help me keep names straight.

Big Plus

Double Trouble class

Roses and Rails

Rose's Quilt

Scrap Cats

Scrap Cats ended up being a twin, all from leftovers from a quilt kit finished many years ago. There's a bit of frugal piecing to make it stretch.

New pincushion

I've been needing a new pincushion to replace one that I'd had almost 40 years. This is stuffed with crushed walnuts and stays put on a side table. I've made a few EPP pincushions that are too lightweight. I fussy-cut the cats to give me sections for types of pins, and used fusible interfacing to help it last. 

Tweedy Raglan

A lightweight cotton-blend sweater, with curved lower edges and shoulder shaping so the back neck is higher. It hibernated for a couple of long stretches and is finally done.

Another quilt top is ready to assemble - simple boxes from the leftovers of Rose's quilt. I thought it would be another Scrap Vortex, but there was enough of the cute floral focus print to cut 38 5" squares, and piece four plus blocks, and then sash with 2 1/2" strips.

Sweet Surprise

Two quilting buddies from Seattle, Ann and Jennifer, drove up to visit yesterday. They had a tour of the house, patiently smiled at my scraggly garden, and put up with a very barky puppy. Just before they left, Ann mysteriously went to the car and came back with this wonderful surprise - a friendship quilt from the group that I belonged to for about 18 years:

It has a hanging sleeve with a slat included for hanging in my new (under construction) studio. The theme was "garden", and I absolutely love it! The block at top center is my old house in Seattle, which was also the logo for my quilting business. I tried to brush Jennifer off as she filmed me looking at it as I was making an ugly cry face. I was blown away by the sweetness of the group to make this for me. Thank you so much ladies!

A Finish and a Start

Quarter Logs, 57” x 45”

Quarter Logs is quilted, with a diagonal line going in one direction. I eye-balled all the lines, some are a bit wonky, and they match the piecing.  I tried out my new laser light, since there is no quilting guide on my old Juki, but found it wouldn’t stay in position. Next time I’ll try painter’s tape to attach the flexible tube to the underside of the machine so it doesn’t move around so much. I was suspicious that the price on it kept going down, but should be able to get some use out of it. Binding is a royal blue solid.

Components for Rose's Quilt, focus fabric in front

New project in progress is Rose’s quilt, seen on her blog https://somethingrosemade14.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-dreami-specks-strips-and.html


Thinking there were a lot of rescued jelly roll strips that all went together, I tracked down the box but many were peach, and the focus fabric did not have any peach, so instead pulled yellow/blues/greens/whites and they should be an interesting mix. A lot of quilts start with one idea and go somewhere else! The blocks come out 20” x 4” finished. 


I’ve started hand piecing hexagons into flowers for applique. Haven’t decided if I’ll use diamonds as the base block (as on https://www.stitchedincolor.com The Kingfisher 
stitch-along) or squares, as in APNQ magazine. The glue technique is not a winner, even with the special glue sticks. I’ll next try the basting technique that stays on the back side and doesn’t go through the papers (first big EPP project I did was queen-sized, all templates cut from magazine inserts, all basted through the paper…never again!)


Knitting is back on track, have had a sweater in progress for many months. It’s the Lightweight Raglan Pullover  by Purl Soho. Between an interesting pleated hem technique that didn’t work with the texture of the yarn, short-rows on the curved hems, and then short-rows on the back, it kept getting put aside. Oh and then there was the move in the middle. Have bookmarked a video on Kitchener stitch for the underarms, then just some ends to weave in and give it a quick blocking. The yarn is a Valley Yarns 8/2 mercerized cotton – there’s a strand of something other than cotton that gives it a nice tweedy look but was a bugger to un-knit in places. After this is finished I hope to knock out a few charity hats and scarves.


I stitched up three cowls using the black & white knit fabric from the shirt finished in January, all to be donated. One is long to double-wrap, the others single. It was nice to use up almost all the remaining fabric. They’re sewn in a tube, with just a small bit of hand sewing to close.