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..