Staycation Sewing Progress and Plans

Staycation continues! I have been able to spend a lot of time in the sewing room.  First priority was the next grandson's quilt.  I went with a simple design and used stash fabrics.  The sashing was cut from the bolt of Kona Bone I bought from JoAnn's some months ago. It is great to have on hand. 

The bottom looks wonky in this pic but really isn't in person. 

Final white border all around.  The pattern I found online used 1" sashing, which I thought was too narrow, so I cut mine at 1.5"--that also made the quilt longer and wider.  The prints were cut 8x16 and 8x8 square, the long vertical strip was also 8", so it is not a big quilt. My Husqvarna sewing machine needed a service, however, so my older model Husqvarna is standing in; it does not have the main features I love on the newer model, the automatic presser foot lifter and the thread cutter. I took the 40 minute drive to the repair shop, and was sorry to see the Quilty Pleasures shop in the same center  that I expected to also visit had closed. Instead, I wandered around a vintage resale shop that had lots of fun old stuff to admire. I came home with a Fiestaware platter to add to my dinnerware, in a dark rusty color I didn't have. 

A rare opportunity to make a baby girl quilt for a grand-niece had me pulling sweet prints and patterns from my precut scraps and fat quarter drawers. 

The pattern I am using is "Picnic", from Kim Brackett's book, Scrap Basktet Sensations; it's the cover quilt.  Most of the quilts use 2.5" strips and squares.  I used my GO cutter to cut the neutral strips and squares for a 6x6 block quilt; the blocks are 6" square finished. I'm assembly-line stitching them as quickly as possible, as baby is due in the next few weeks. 

I made one for myself about 10 years ago. See it Here.  

The trimmings I am sewing up into cute mini hourglass blocks. 

What a sweet doll quilt these would make--there are lots more made than these few that were on the ironing board:)

Go Four It Quilt

Nearly three years ago I finished a quilt top based on the Go Four It challenge in APQ magazine, inspired by another APQ magazine quilt by Edyta Sitar, with a final setting based on a Bonnie Hunter quilt, Daybreak. How's that for a winding road :)  

Goals this year being more finished quilts, I pulled out some magazines to look for border ideas.  The top is 51 x 66 or so.  The setting fabric is a Jan Patek fabric I chose as it was fairly non-directional.  I made the side setting triangles large so that the pieced blocks would float.  While perusing magazines, I saw a quilt that used a border design that extended the floating look even more, and sketched it out.  I cut  2.5" border strips with my GO cutter, and 4.5" corner squares. 

Liking it! I set the color blocks and light blocks to make chains in the quilt.  Can you see them?

All four sides attached.  I liked the way the corner square extended into the floating center. 

Closeup of the corner square fabric, a remnant left over from another scrappy quilt.  One of the grandsons toybox cars appeared when I moved the recliner to lay out the quilt :)

Considering this yardage from stash for a final border but will have to do MATH to determine if I have enough of it. 

Some of the first border fabric is in one of the pieced blocks.  I  love all the scrappiness!

Design Wall Monday--Winding Ways and Winding Up

 Design Wall Monday--see more great quilts on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I've again reached maximum density in the sewing room and need to thin out the overload.  Soo many baggies with leftovers from quilt tops and HSTs/leftovers I hate to waste!  

Purple block left over from My Lupine Heaven quilt top  got some borders and quilting  to become a tablemat (Bonnie Hunter's My Blue Heaven pattern).  My sister/sales rep marketed this to Dad for $25, lol.  I'll need to deliver it soon and collect the fee. 

This should be the last batch of Easy Breezy blocks for the layout I chose for another Bonnie Hunter design--this was her 2020 leader-ender project. 

This container holding leftover Accuquilt die cut Winding Ways block pieces has been sitting here for years. In 2015 I finished a commissioned quilt for a family friend's relatives as an anniversary quilt. I got out the die cutter and, amazingly, found a leftover strip of the turquoise print in the fat quarter dresser big enough to cut more shapes.

They are fiddly blocks but the notches and precise die cuts really help.  The hardest seams are the last ones joining the two sections. 

Well hi, Skinny Mini!

--here's a cat-free version :)  That copper color was--and is-- difficult to find.  

I made a clip cushion by request for my sister for her birthday, from some other solid scraps, but couldn't help throwing just a little pattern in the mix.  I cut the cushion pieces 6 x 7.5" and the clip holders 2" wide, as per the pattern instructions I found on thesewingdirectory.co.uk.  I again used scraps of fusible batting to give them body, and for cushion stuffing thriftily sliced up and pulled apart more leftover wool batting cutoffs that have been hanging around for ages.

Kathy put it right to use :)  It holds a lot of clips and hopefully is large enough to keep from getting buried on her cutting table too often!

Now and Then--Another Baby Quilt

I just love the satisfaction of sewing up smaller projects-- and if they are for a baby, even better!  Our daughter-in-law's sister is due in a few months with her own first baby, and I asked our DIL Ashley if she thought her sister might like a quilt.  I try never to assume that everyone loves handmade--we all have different tastes--but Ashley thought her sister would like one similar to the first quilt I made our grandson Dane. 

 The snowball blocks were fun to sew and I liked the simple block to block layout.  While perusing some of my APQ magazines, I found a great companion to this quilt.

This is a redo of an antique quilt by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  I loved the combination of the nine patches and snowballs.  Her version is all solid fabrics with the snowball blocks randomly placed, but I wanted to use prints, making the cousins' quilts complementary.  I cropped a portion of the quilt for a baby sized version.

The navy and white is for the nine patches and snowball corners, and the sun/cloud print and yellow speckle for the center, with primarily bright blue for the remaining snowball blocks.  Though I drew it with orange in the corners, I may switch things up when all the blocks are ready to layout.  I prepped all the fabrics and started cutting.  And then....a design opportunity was presented when I mistakenly thought I was using my 6.5" ruler for the squares and I WAS NOT.  Sigh.  Luckily I had only miscut one of the sun/cloud print blocks, but didn't have any more of this fabric (I had made a bunch of peepee teepees with it).  I found a rocket/moon fabric in the fat quarter drawer to use; with the yellow speckle squares, these will be my center snowball blocks.

Getting out the Accuquilt 2.5" die for strip cutting is a big time saver, even though it wastes a little bit of fabric.  I'll be marking a lot of squares for all those snowball corners, but am happy to strip piece the 9 patches per the designer's directions. 

The pattern is in issue #158, from June 2019.  Here's a link to the magazine with a photo of the antique and modern remake. Can't wait to get started--I haven't sewn a thing all week!

Three for March--Another pick and progress

Yesterday it was time to choose another UFO to work on for three days in March.  The draw was #10, Beach Cottage Beauty.  

This is another slow build project that I collected Batik fabrics for gradually. It was curiously difficult to find light green batiks, so there will be many repeats. There are four different blocks made from the color combos, here are some I worked on pairing last night.  The pattern is from Kim Brackett.

I have made a number of her quilts and have several of her books, but not her latest.  The quilt on the cover of this book is gorgeous and also made from Batiks.  I cut most of the fabrics with my GO cutter sometime last year, and am happy that they will be sewn into blocks at last.  More cutting and maybe shopping for more variety will be necessary---I don't have enough of each combo for the required number of blocks.  

Meanwhile, more progress was made on Three for March projects.  The Round Robin Star's binding is attached and the quilt trimmed. I'm loving the spiral quilting. 

So glad I had just enough of that light teal blue for the binding, which I'll hand sew to the back.

Also moved along is the Aussie Feedsacks.  The quilt center is now complete.

There is a pieced border next, requiring prints to be sewn before cutting into sections, and I got those paired up. 

Some of my favorite prints are in this closeup.  Very pleased with the construction so far.  I'll try using the pairs as leader-enders with the Beach Cottage blocks and move both along.

Works in Progress, Visitors, and New Toy

I'm continuing to work on some of the Three for September projects (my WIP busting effort working on one project every three days).  I spent a few hours quilting the Medallion Rescue quilt.  Lots of boring stippling around the star center, and then some custom work on the borders, all done on my Husqvarna sewing machine.  

The ribbon effect in the blue borders was done with a scallop stitch on my machine.  I like the way it turned out, however imperfect it is :)  Then I tried to come up with a way to quilt through the white sections of the chain blocks but somehow ended up with a more complex quilting design, simply by trying not to have to bury a ton of threads.  I used my Hera marker for all the lines.  I think the chains still stand out enough against the quilting.  Binding is ready to cut and sew, in the same blue dot fabric. I'd like to get that done this weekend and call this rescue complete. 

Another project on the Three for September list, Jewels in the Curio, still needed fabrics cut for the three borders.  I pulled out the GO! cutter and 2.5" strip die to make quick work of the rest of the necessary pieces.  It was very satisfying to have them all lined up, labeled, and ready to go when I want to piece.

Daughter Elaine texted last weekend hoping I had pumpkin carving tools.  The family stopped by on their walk and I was surprised by grandson Cove while I was digging around in boxes in the garage.  We had a short, fun visit, even though I didn't locate any tools.  

 Cove the Wizard grabbed some driftwood as a broom..

 ...Hunter the Thirsty rejected Mimi's first choice of a sippy cup with handles: "That's for Babies!"  He's rapidly turning into a little boy but his hands are still toddler chubby--love that.

And finally, the New Toy.  At our last guild meeting there was a raffle for a very special prize.  Many, many tickets were sold for this prize; I bought a few.  My sister bought quite a number of chances and ended up winning the prize!  At the end of the meeting she picked up her prize---and gave it to me as an early birthday present.  I was flabbergasted.  Here's a crappy photo of an impressive gift:

This is the Cricut Maker, with a rotary cutting tool specifically for fabric.  The prize package also included two of the large sticky fabric cutting mats, some other accessories and a fabric bundle.  I have watched a bunch of videos and seen some great projects on Instagram, but have not yet cut anything out. It's so hard to decide what to try first!  My sister and I are going to Sewtopia in a few weeks, and I'd like to use the Cricut Maker to do something fabulous with the Michael Miller Challenge fabric.  Wish me luck!

Three for September: Garden Pinwheel Top Finish

Three for September:  a WIP is chosen and worked on for three days, all month.  

Late last night I carefully toted the Garden Pinwheel quilt top to the ironing board to fuse down the leaves on the border.  I only lost one leaf, which was a thin fabric that didn't want to stick, but fused just fine once I found it under the ironing board!

If you can tell, I decided to graduate down to the smaller leaves from the corners.  The applique really adds a lot to the simple patchwork, I think. 

Lots of green scrappy leaves in all shades. Oh, I am so happy I didn't abandon this idea in favor of a finish years ago!  The top was placed back on the hanger with the backing and binding and hopefully it will come out to play again before the end of the year.   I have plenty of green threads to chose from when it comes time to stitch down the edges with a fancy stitch. 

The next Three for September WIP is going to be a two-fer.  I've been making square-in-square blocks for several years, and after an hour of playing layout on the floor, am nearing the total I need for my self-drafted quilt plan, originally inspired by Edyta Sitar's Go Four It project from APQ magazine in 2015. My blocks are 3.5" unfinished; hers were much tinier as she started with 1.25" squares for her four patches. 

I am going to keep sewing the triangles to my four patches as leader-enders while I finish assembling the rows and top for the Jewels in the Curio quilt (a Moda Bakeshop pattern).  I have another five rows to assemble for the 8x8 setting.  Cutting and assembling the borders may follow before the three days are up.

Now I've got to get out of the house for a few errands, there are more Thomas Fire Quilts to give away and they need binding. A VERY generous long arm quilter has just returned 12 quilts she did for our guild project.  They are tagged for recipients so need to be finished right away.  I'm off to Superbuzzy!

Three for September: Garden Pinwheel update

Three for September:  I'm choosing a different WIP to move along every third day this month. Today is the third day for the Garden Pinwheel quilt.  Last night I prepped more leaves for the borders and did a rough layout on the quilt.

 Purely serendipity that a 9" strip for two of the larger leaves exactly fit the width of Steam a Seam2 sheets.  Gotta love that. 

Here is a closeup of the fabrics that make up the pinwheels and "stripes".  I love the scrappy look.

I think I prefer the partial border but will make it extend to halfway down the side.  This was all the leaves I had  cut by last night. I will frame two opposing corners as in the inspiration design. 

Of course I was closely supervised by the QC Cat, Mini.  She helpfully secured the pattern to the floor.  This free pattern was an insert from a 2008 (!) McCall's Quilting Magazine offer.  It is called Summer at Mom's and a quick online search shows it is available as a digital download from The Quilting Company.com.  The bright green HST border is very pretty but I will not be adding that, particularly since I already made the backing and binding.  

Lots more leaves were prepped this morning with the Accuquilt GO cutter, and I will fuse them down before the end of the night in my final layout.  My finishing plan is to assemble the quilt sandwich and quilt with a fancy stitch around the leaves, but that will occur at a later date.  I'm hoping it will turn out as nicely as I see it in my head!  

Then it will be time to choose another WIP to work on for the next three days :)

Three for September, and Log Cabin Loonies

This morning I pulled out the next Three for September project, wherein I am working on one WIP for three days at a time, then switching to another.  I snagged the Garden Pinwheel flimsy from the depths of the coat closet where it has hung for an age. 

Would you look at that?   I had to laugh at the saggy plastic hanger, so pitiful!  And, hey, I already made the binding... 

...and the backing!  I have no recollection of constructing this back, but am happy to see it.  At lunch time I dug out the old plastic project box from the depths of the Hoosier cabinet. Fortunately I am in that cabinet often enough to know the fabrics I set aside for the leaves were in there. 

The quilt pattern sheet came in a magazine solicitation and that inspired the pinwheels I made.  You can see that a bias vine was part of the detail and that is where I stalled.  The Accuquilt GO cutter and Alex Anderson's Pomegranate die (which I specifically bought a few years ago for this project) were fished out after dinner, and I started adhering fabric pieces to sheets of Steam a Seam 2.  

I have not yet decided if I want the leaves to extend the length of the borders, or stop short as in the inspiration pattern.  There are lots of green scraps to cut and play with.  

Speaking of scraps, today is the link up for Log Cabin Loonies on JulieK's blog.  I am up to 20 finished blocks now. 

I've already shared this photo on Lori's Humble Quilts Facebook page, and on Instagram.  My plan is for a total of 80 blocks to made a nice couch quilt.  So fun to play with all the colors in the scrap boxes!

Working and Playing

Though not blogging, I've been busy, including in the sewing room.  The baby quilt I showed last time is now a completed top.  Pattern is Signed, Sealed, Delivered from APQ mag April 2017.  I left off the two borders.

It went together nicely and I'm happy with the color placement.  Unfortunately, the fabric I had bought for the backing was not quite long or wide enough for quilt sandwich purposes, so some surgery was necessary.  Luckily I had purchased enough of the pink background fabric to extend the backing as well as for the binding. Sometimes I am smart enough to buy extra, generally MATH is a struggle!

I drew out several designs but liked this arrangement best.  The print is a Valori Wells design.  I'm pondering quilting designs but will likely go with a very simple channel quilting. 

My Dad and his fraternal twin had a big birthday and while at the party, my Uncle asked how I did with my quilts at the Fair, so I showed him photos on my phone.  I asked if he had a quilt for his bed at his senior living place, and he shook his head. I've been making 4 patches as leader-enders for Naragansett Blues by Bonnie Hunter, but having few blue fabrics in stash or scraps, hadn't decided on an alternate.  Luckily, he is fond of brown so I went home and pulled all the browns and some black prints from my fat quarter drawer, happy to have a direction and destination for this squirrel project.  I cut a bunch into bricks with my Accuquilt GO cutter, loving that I had the right size die. 

 I laid out a few of the bricks and 4 patches as a test and think this will work.  My neutrals are white to tan and don't seem to be getting lost in the browns. 

My version will be smaller than designer Bonnie Hunter's, but just as scrappy.  The quilt is constructed in vertical rows, so I'll need to count carefully to make sure I have enough of the 4 patches, bricks and squares for my plan.  

Sewtopia in NOLA is coming up quickly and I wanted a special project for my very first quilting retreat.  I have itched to make a word quilt for ages and the Simple Shapes alphabet by Laura Hartrich, found in the Winter 2017 Modern Patchwork magazine was my starting point.  Last night I drew and sketched and graphed to the wee hours and think I've got a good plan. (FYI: Link to designer is for her sampler quilt that includes the upper case letters)

I'll be using Drunkard's Path templates from Jen Carlton-Baily in the 3" finished size.  My first two sketches made a quilt that was too large and required hundreds more background squares than I was willing to sew up.  Looking through the magazine again, the designer showed a word quilt without spacing between the letters, and that was the key to my final layout. 

The words will be colored prints and solids, and of course the shamrock will be greens.  I plan to use lots of different neutrals and leftover block parts for fun in the background, and will mix plain and pieced squares.  I hope to complete the twin-size quilt top at the retreat, which will necessitate doing a lot of  auditioning,  cutting and sewing over the next 10 days.  Back to the sewing room, then!