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.