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

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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.