Design Wall Monday--Catching Up

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

Well, didn't mean to disappear for so many days!  I've been busy working on projects to enter into our County Fair. Only a couple more days before all entries need to be finalized online. 

I got all the quilting done on this large throw made from long-ago leftovers from another quilt. I abandoned something fancy for the purple/green blocks and kept it simple with a crosshatch. 

Our Nieces crocheted some adorable chickens--and stuffed them, embroidered the mouth and eyes, all while traveling from Riverside County in busy summer weekend traffic while their Dad drove.  I named mine Thimble and she is my new sewing room mascot.  I posed her on the doll quilt just quilted. 

I pulled several repro options before settling on the medium green print--the scale felt right.  I'll hand stitch the binding--it is too tiny to try to machine sew.  Another Fair entry project is nearly done. 

I did simple crosshatching every 2 inches for the quilting.  Sunday I made bias binding and had a heck of a time getting the last join done!  About five tries and ripping later, but finally ready to stitch down by machine, most likely. 

The simple lapped backing has recipes.  I'll end up with "okies and ingerbread" by the time the binding is on, haha. 

On my mind is the end of Picasa, which I have used all these years for the blog.  Google lets you make a copy of your album archive and save it to "Takeout", whatever that is!  Our computer is very old and I don't even know I can save the copy there or if I will have to store it somewhere else.  I only have three days left to solve this issue!  Google Photos is not like Picasa and there will be a learning curve.  If anyone has any helpful hints on this issue, I would be most happy to hear them!

Brown Finish and Colorful Start

I finished off the binding of the 50 Shades of Brown quilt, stitching on the patio on a beautiful day. Lovely breeze, umbrella for shade, and a cool drink. Quiltalong in 2020 by Lori of Humble Quilts Blog.

The binding took hardly any time at all.  

This pic shows the quilting texture a bit more.  Simple stitch in the ditch.  I posted these pics on Lori's Humble Quilts Facebook page and the quilt garnered a lot of attention and kind words.  I may enter this one in the upcoming Fair.

Another little quilt bossed its way to life almost immediately. I was looking through my patterns binder and came across the Mini Charmers 2 booklet, from Anka's Treasures, designer Heather Mulder Peterson.  The quilts are based on 2.5" charm squares.  Having a full drawer of scrap 2.5"squares, I eagerly dove in. 

Such a fun detour. 

The Folded Corner Clipper tool came in very handy.  I like to trim off the excess from the corner before stitching the seam, so I don't have to mark it. 

The rows came together quickly and I then got all the rest of the white background cut.

All straight stitch sewing and really only a couple of seams to match--a pleasure!

All done except deciding if I want to add the applique leaves to the flowers.  Lots of different colorways could be made of this pattern.  Love it. 

Slow Sunday Stitching--Fifty Shades

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more lovely projects being slow stitched on Kathy's Quilts blog. 

My slow stitching today will be a binding for a small quilt. This was from Lori of Humble Quilts sewalong in 2020, Fifty Shades of Brown.  I had a lot of fun making this little quilt, which measures about 14x18".  

I made a simple backing "Bar" style.  The tan fabric is from a fat quarter that has been in the stash a long time!

I used my walking foot and brown Aurifil thread for SITD quilting.  

...And added a few more brown prints with the binding. 

All ready for hand stitching the binding down with the same Aurifil thread.  I think I'll sit outside for this small job, it is a lovely day in SoCal with a nice breeze. 

We Have Windows!

 A long-awaited home improvement project has finally been realized--replacement windows are all in!

Window on the walkway to the front door....

Patio door next to the sewing room and kitchen. The house is so quiet now when the doors are shut!

I chose the small window grids on the front windows to emphasize the Crafstman look to the house.  It is a pleasure to be able to forget the builder grade windows we had for so long!  The 5 man crew was great and put in all the windows in two days. These are Anlin double pane windows.

Goodbye old window!  Next we will need to replace the old and/or broken window coverings.  We like the wooden blinds in some of the rooms, and will try to get a good deal somewhere.  

Oh! and I here's the pic forgot to show of the doll quilt top last post, just for a bit of quilty content!

I didn't separate my colors very well but I am not too fussed about it!  Such sweet prints from the Cheeky charm pack and my binding cuttoffs. 

We ended a busy day at work today with a  3.8 Earthquake, it was quite a jolt though centered probably 15-20 miles away.  I'll be working from home tomorrow as the doc I scribe for on Fridays has COVID despite being fully vaccinated.  He is not feeling bad, little cough/sniffles, headache, and has been working from home too, while isolating. Indoor mask mandates are being lifted by the State, though that doesn't apply to healthcare workers.  Maybe only for a few more months...

Design Wall Monday--November's End

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

Playing with scraps again, I made a mini or doll quilt.  Initially it was only 4 rows tall, but seemed far too small so I rummaged about in the 2.5" scrap drawer for more pieces.  The HSTs finish at 2 inches.  I haven't decided if borders will be added.  I have just enough of the silver and white dot for borders on two sides, probably.  

I've not worked on the bookshelf quilt for my niece in over a week, but did reread directions and cut some of the strips narrower, due to the recommendation of cutting most of them about 2 inches wide.  I assume this is to get more books on the shelf :)  Since I did a big clean up after my scrap play, the sewing room is ready to go. 

I ventured down to the Harbor to watch the sunset last week.  The sun sets behind our Channel Islands this time of year.  In the left  middle of the photo, you can see two figures--some teenaged girls were bearing the cold Pacific.  On the right middle of the photo is the harbor entrance, a man-made rock jetty, like the one I was standing on  jutting out from the beach.  Some buoys also mark the entrance and I watched a number of fishing boats make their way home.

From the Harbor entrance side of the jetty, lots of pelicans favor the calmer waters.  This pic is looking toward the northwest edge of town.  There is a lot of flying back and forth between the jetty and some nesting grounds south of the harbor.

I love going down there any time of day, but sunset is my favorite. 

Slow Sunday Stitching--A Finish and a Start

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more lovely items being hand worked on Kathy's blog. 

I have a finish and a start--I think I'll start with the cross-stitch first. I'm stitching a scissor weight on linen to accompany the Pomegranate and Poinsettia pincushion stitch. Both of these are on the same piece of linen.  It is SMALL, 32 count; in retrospect, working on this at night wasn't the best choice. :)

The pinkeep will be petite.  However, after completing the whole border after this pic, I found that I had made it too small by two stitches in each direction, and the center design would not fit.  I directly moved over on this big piece of linen and began again. 

This small stitch should quickly be completed and then I'll construct the pinkeep and scissor weight. I started this UFO at least 6 years ago.  Sheesh.

The other slow stitching was a binding finish.  I made a quilt from 6" reproduction print swap blocks (Fun with Barb blog) and used single-fold binding.  It has been waiting weeks to be turned back and finished but at last is done.

The wind made the quilt dance a little; it is not actually that shape! 

Stash fabrics for the binding and borders.  

...as well as the backing.  This has been in stash a long time and I love the colors. 

Isn't the pumpkin print sweet? The binding looks bowed here, for some reason, but is not.  

The quilt is about 22x32.  This patch of weeds is about the only green thing in what used to be a lawn in the backyard!  Currently in SoCal we are in excessive drought and conserving water.  Hoping for some rain and ending the worst of the fire season relatively unscathed in our county!

Tuesday's Orts--Very Random

 Tuesday's Orts--bits and pieces that land here once in a while...

• My sister won a raffle basket or two last month at the VMQG Guild meeting. She gifted me all the patterns and fabric she didn't want.  The Bonnie and Camille floral is so pretty.  I'm sure I'll find a good quilt for it to belong to. 

• A call went out for donations of gently used quilts for Afghan refugees.  I found three I was willing to part with.  This quilt was made years ago from blocks I won from a blog. Although red and green, the prints are not Christmasy.

This quilt was an early fail in the fabric selection department.  The small oriental print turns to mud when seen from not very far away.  I hope someone will like it close up--it has languished in a closet for many years, unused. 

This red quilt from a free Bonnie Hunter pattern (Pineapple Blossom) was made for my mother-in-law, also barely used.  I hope these quilts will please refugees of 20 years of war.  I can't even fathom what that must have been like.  I took these to Superbuzzy and received thanks from the owner, Kelly, when she ran out to my car as I was leaving. 

 

• This huge moth lingered for a couple of hours on our kitchen's garden window screen.  Pardon my clean dishes cluttering up the pic.  Speaking of clutter....

• Pardon the blur, I was trying to be quick while Dr. B was out of the room.  I think his wife cleans up after him at home, because every day he brings a drink and doesn't finish it or throw it away.  I recently mentioned the mess and he brought a bag the next day and took all the cans away, but left the bottles!  Well I think some of the bottles weren't even opened. Too funny.

• A little doll quilt mostly from leftovers of the Greenpiece BOM quilt.  It will get quilted and donated to guild for some little girl to enjoy. 

• Traffic Rant: There are folks in our neighborhood who cannot bear to walk two yards further from their parked car to their house and therefore park practically on the corner.  One of them is a big ass truck, which makes it really hard to see cross traffic or dog walkers while trying to get out of our court.  A daily annoyance!
• This time three years ago I was checking my County Fair Entries. 
  
  

I made this quilt for the Sewtopia Challenge fabric that year.  It was a fun exercise.  We got emails today regarding the Orlando event a month away, I'm hoping I managed to reserve a sewing machine so I don't have to fly one there.  I've chosen a pattern for this year's challenge fabric bundle and plan to get started on it this weekend.  There are secret swap gifts to make too, and I'm excited about an idea for pincushions.  So much to do before the end of September.  I'm hoping to get a COVID-19 booster mid September, as it will be 8 months since my second shot, and COVID numbers are scary!  

Doll Quilt Swap and Stitching

Lots of corny Star Wars jokes for May the Fourth!  I couldn't come up with one cornier...BUT I do remember, as a high school teenager, the original movie playing at our local theater for about three months straight, and lines of folks stretching around the building, waiting to get in!  Yes, I'm that old. The rest of this post has absolutely nothing to do with space battles...

Quilty mail arrived from Texas, from my Humble Quilts' Doll Quilt Swap partner, and it was with happy anticipation that I opened the package. Many Thanks to Liz Bushong for this charming and scrappy beauty!

I just loved all the fabrics and prints Liz used in this doll quilt. 

Mini liked the first border fabric a lot.  or maybe she was just eyeing the 1/2" center squares.

Liz generously sent this beautiful tea towel and charm with her cards.  Many thanks, indeed!  Every year I have participated in this swap has brought a wonderful mini to treasure.  If I ever get organized enough, I'll hang them all together in my sewing room.

I've spent a bit more time with my latest cross-stitch, Blackbird Designs' Loose Feathers. Not too much unstitching needed, but it does take concentration to count threads on the linen. 

This fanciful tree has several more branches to add, but I'll work on the leaves for this portion first.  I'm enjoying it very much. It is a welcome distraction from having to return to in-office work!  Luckily my commute is not far and I can come home for lunch and get a few stitches in.  Looking forward to playing with all the other pretty threads.  :)

Friday Fun

I had Friday off due to the doc I usually work for being out of town.  Grant took me out to breakfast at one our local favorite restaurants, where we sat on the patio in our own arbor.  Afterwards I made the 45 minute drive out to Simi Valley to pick up my sewing machine.  I was so pleased they did the cleaning faster than estimated, in only 9 days rather than 2.5 weeks originally allowed for.  They replaced the thread cutter blade--$9.95--which I hadn't been using as it was dull.  I'll have to remember to push that button after stitching once again.  

A quick stop in the Quilty Pleasures quilting shop across the parking lot resulted in some purchases. 

The yummy cheddar is a Ruby Star Society print.  I love that color and it can be hard to find just that shade.  The fat quarters I picked up go pretty well with it too.  

Back home, I stitched on the label to the Humble Quilts doll quilt and got it mailed off to my swap partner. 

I included a fat quarter from stash, and the tin watermelon from stitching early in the pandemic shutdown--the pattern I bought today.  I hope the doll quilt pleases my partner.  The package was mailed today and expected to take about a week to be delivered to Wisconsin.  

Mini supervised from the box lid :)  The newly cleaned sewing machine got reinstalled in the sewing desk and I tested it out with zigzagging the edges of the linen for the latest cross-stitch project, and sewed up a few leader-ender 2" squares into twosies. Speaking of squares...

While cleaning up the cutting table again, the precut square drawers got a lot of pieces added!  These are all 2.5" squares in stacks about the same depth drawer...must.sew.faster....