2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 7

There are a couple of interesting dates coming up. 2-20-22 and 2-22-22. I am not interested in numerology but I do think it would be nice to finish a quilt on one of those dates. I was hoping to finish Lansing Leaves by one of those dates, but since I am working, I am not sure I will be able to finish piecing the back, sandwich, quilt and bind by either of those dates.

Those new quilts do tend to push in and disrupt plans. I spent more time this week with Jazzy Blues and did not work on Lansing Leaves.

 

I have a quilt that is closer to completion - not only is the backing done, it is already sandwiched and the quilting has already started. It is a big quilt though so it won't be a quick finish. It is really old so getting it done would be a great relief. So old that there is no mention of it on this blog. My spreadsheet lists it as started in 2007, but there are a few other quilts with the same date and I know that it was before the spreadsheet was started so it is an educated guess.  It gave me trouble in quilting because it has a lot of bulky seams but that might have been before I got a flat bed extension. I have it out and will examine it to plan the next steps. I will simplify the quilting plan.

I call it Olympics Twist so finishing it on the last day of the Olympics, 2-20-22 would add meaning to that date.

It was not a good week for walking. First, Zeus sprained his leg so he couldn't walk much. Then the snow melted and refroze and was very icy and slippery. Even on the grass, he isn't heavy enough to crush through the layer of ice so he just slides on top of it. He is doing better now but we are still skipping a lot of walks. 

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 7

If you recall, I am sewing along the Aunt Daisy quiltalong but I am calling my quilt Jazzy Blues. I worked this week so I didn't have much time for quilting. Still though, I finished a Postage Stamp block while I sewed the flying geese of the Jazzy Blues quilt.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 44 out of 44 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

 

 

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

Looks the same as last week.

 

 

 

 

The Jelly Roll Club has a really cute applique sew along called Gnome of the Month. Besides free patterns, there are free videos that show every step of different methods of applique. It is a versatile pattern and you can customize it as you go.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 6

 

 

I told you the Aunt Daisy quilt along in a previous post. It is such a pretty quilt that I decided to join it. I chose these jazzy blue fabrics with off white backgrounds. I have to give the quilt a name so I can add a label to the blog post and have decided to call it Jazzy Blues.

I've cut the first fabric for the flying geese. I decided to use the same fabric for each component since they will be distributed throughout the quilt. I am hoping it will add another layer of design on the quilt.

And like Amalfi, I will have rogue blocks so I don't have to worry about having the right amount of fabric for each component.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 6

I didn't have work this week, so I had a lot of time for quilting. 

 

I've developed a habit of recycling cardboard boxes when I get them to avoid filling them up with junk. This means that when I need one, I either have to wait for the next incoming box or I have to empty one that is already full. I  dumped a cardboard box full of scraps so I would have the box available for charity. I spent a good bit of my 15 minutes a day cutting up these scraps into one and a half inch strips and trying to get my table back.

 

I pieced more of the backing for Lansing Leaves. I started the Aunt Daisy quiltalong.  So far I have chosen the fabric, cut and marked the pieces for the flying geese.

 

Not a lot to show even though there has been a lot of progress.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 37 out of 37 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

 

 

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

Since I started a new quilt before finishing a long-term quilt, this changes my stats to have more starts than finishes. I was hoping to have a finish and just maintain it throughout the year, but that would have been boring for you to watch. I just started a new quilt to keep this story exciting for you. Will she manage to end the year with more finishes than starts? Ah, the sacrifices I make for my blog readers.

Winter Weather

 

 

We had a lot of freezing rain, followed by 5 inches of snow. I had a choice between going out to take a photo of Lansing Leaves quilt top or shovel the snow.

I noticed that my blog post has been getting a lot of unexpected views. So funny, I thought Wordle sounded familiar. Sorry, it is the wrong Wordle for people who were looking for the other one.

Quilt Reveal: Orange 2-2-22

 

The Project Quilting Challenge this week is Kitchen. There were two things pushing me to do the challenge. 

1. Today is February 2, 2022 and I wanted to put that date as a finish date on a quilt and it is taking me too long to finish the back of Lansing Leaves. 

2. I got the idea to make an orange quilt and there are orange scraps on my table.

It is raw edge applique. The orange is a scrap from Lansing Leaves. The blue is from Amalfi. I hope I wasn't saving it for the binding. If I was, I am going to have to make a scrappy binding for it.

The batting was a fusible, which I hadn't realized before I pressed it, so I didn't get a second pass at those corners.

I got the bright idea to make a cut underneath a label to turn the quilt right side out, but it turns out that I put the front layer on top which did not give me access to the cut. Luckily, I figured that out and left an opening along the edge. I was able to make the edge pretty neat, but I ran out of bobbin thread so that kept it from being as neat as it could be.

 

It was still a fun little quilt and now I have a quilt with 2-2-22 as a finish date. I embroidered it on the front so everyone can see it.

There is a new quiltalong that began yesterday. It is a traditional quilt called Aunt Daisy. It is not a mystery, but the pattern will be released monthly. The pattern is free on the blog and there is a Facebook group if you want to see everyone's progress and fabric choices.

The Ohio Arts Council's Riffe Gallery is showing a tour of the Quilt National 2021 exhibit on their Facebook page. If you can't go in person, this is a great presentation to watch.

2022: Week 5: 15 Minutes to Stitch

I started to cut the scraps from Lansing Leaves to use in the Postage Stamp quilt, but I decided that I didn't want that much orange in that quilt. I spent the week piecing the Lansing Leaves scrap for the backing. There isn't any room to store any more scraps so I need to use them up.  Normally I try to make a generation quilt, but this time, the next generation will be the back. At least this will keep the baby grandchild quilt from being born before the parent quilt as so frequently happens here. The baby was born first with Project Quilting last week, Flight.

 

I have been enjoying piecing the back. Just joining the scraps based on their size. I had tried this before with a utility quilt that gave me trouble, but I think I must have been trying to make sure everything was balanced and cohesive.

I have found that I have trouble when I am trying to make one piece, and adding to it, like the first Project Quilting piece I did this year. Even though I used Postage Stamp as a leader and ender, I found it to be a constant interruption in working on the one piece, since the stamp had to be every other thing I pushed through the machine. For this back, I am piecing two parts of the backing at a time that will eventually be joined together. It feels like less interruption to keep one train of thought.

 

 

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 5

I had a solid week of quilting again this week. Besides piecing the back, I went through a bunch of craft magazines to donate. Those blocks in the photo are from the orphan box - they were rejects from Life of Plenty and I think they will fit in perfectly here.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 30 out of 30 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Oh Scrap

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

 There haven't been any changes in this chart, so I didn't update the date. But since I have made so much progress on Lansing Leaves, I am closer to having more finishes than starts for 2022.

If you are interested in bright, colorful crochet, Lucy at Attic24 always shows lots of beautiful photos and free patterns. I don't crochet, and I still really enjoy looking at her blog posts.

If you are used in learning how to use repurposed textiles in quilts, Rhonda Cox Dort offers lots of information on her blog, including beautiful free patterns and free classes.

StoryGraph turns your book reading into beautiful graphs. It analyzes your reading to find patterns and reading preferences and offers suggestion. It looks like an alternative to Goodreads.

Week 4: 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

It has been below freezing a lot of this week, and although I generally walk unless it is below zero, I took a break this week. We had snow and I didn't want my dog Zeus to slip and slide on the street with his hip trouble. He did not insist on walking, and was happy to spend time out in the back yard. He enjoys the cold.

This means I didn't take a lot of pictures, so I found an old one from 2009.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 4

I had a solid week of quilting this week. I made the Project Quilting challenge quilt which I showed you in my last post, Flight. 

The borders I added to Lansing Leaves last week didn't pass quality inspection, so I ripped out a couple of small sections and sewed the entire borders again. I pressed them and sized up the last two borders. I added one, and it didn't pass quality inspection either. It had a tension issue after I refilled the bobbin so it got a second seam too. The last border passed quality inspection, but I was tempted to reinforce it too since all the other ones did.

I am declaring it done, even though I still need to press the last two borders. Since I have the backing and binding fabric chosen (they were in the drawer), I think I will continue on with this quilt so I can get a finish.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 23 out of 23 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

2022: More Finishes Than Starts

Next Edition of Lansing Leaves

 In case you missed the story, I went across state lines and stayed in a hotel room for a month. That is where Lansing Leaves was born. Apparently, like Las Vegas, what happens in Michigan, stays in Michigan. So I have no idea the purpose of this piece that was in the drawer. 

 

Was I planning on putting this quilt on point? And if so, why is there only one of these? Shouldn't there be four since there are four corners in a quilt? What was I planning on using on the sides to make it big enough to put on point? Is there enough fabric for this plan?

Maybe it is good that I don't know. Current Me has vetoed the idea of putting it on point. Although I should look in the drawer again to make sure I don't have missing pieces.

What was the plan for these triangles? They are the same size as the background triangles on the migrating geese. Were they just rejects before I came up with the background fabric, or was there another plan?

Why did I keep sewing the migrating geese as I found there wasn't enough contrast? Did I have a plan for that?

Some of my quilts are very choosy. "I don't care if that blue matches, I don't want it." This one is happy with whatever I do. "Not enough contrast, no problem. Do what you feel is best." So annoying. Usually when that happens, the quilt becomes subject to the whims of whatever I see on my social media feed. Medallion quilt? Sounds good. Migrating geese?. Sure.  On point? Yep. Applique? Hmmm

I have added most of the extra migrating geese pieces that were available to make all the rows the same size. I ripped the last four geese pieces and used the background fabric to finish off the rows. Debra suggested I add the sewn migrating geese without adding more geese and fill in with a solid piece. This is a great plan because I don't have a lot of background pieces to add more geese. I do have a big piece left but I want to use it for the back.

Once I finished off the migrating geese and trimmed the dog ears, it looks much better to me, and it looks like it might work okay on the quilt. 

I don't have enough background fabric for the cornerstones and remaining border, so I used the scraps that I had available. I really like the extra zing they give to that border. I have added two of the sides and hope to add the other two soon.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 3

This year, I would like to have noticeably more finishes than starts, and starting a new quilt is probably not the best way to get that result. But the Project Quilting challenge is posted, and since it forces you to finish a quilt in a week, it won't be counter-productive to that goal. As you saw at the top of this post, I worked on the borders of Lansing Leaves this week.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 16 out of 16 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

Lansing Leaves Continued

There are drawers in the desk where the sewing machine sits. These drawers store the supplies - threads, rotary cutter, mat, iron, and other things I need. I took inventory of what is in the drawers so I can declutter and organize. 

I found two projects I had put away when there was room in the drawers.

I found Lansing Leaves and Elephant Parade. I put both of them in the WIP drawers for now to see if I can make some progress on them. I might switch them out with other projects, depending on my whims.

For Lansing Leaves, there is the quilt square, some migrating geese units that is mean to be another border, and some fabric. There were no directions or notes, but I think I can figure out how to make the rest of the geese.

I think the reason this quilt got stalled is that the geese don't have a lot of contrast and I am not sure they make the quilt any better. My choices are:

• stick with the plan and finish the quilt
• quilt the square and save the geese for another quilt. They might work better as a background instead of a border
  

Now as I am typing, I think I could finish making the geese, attach them to the quilt and, if needed, attach a vine or something on top,

I don't want to spend a lot of time on this quilt. I will try to add some geese and see if I have enough fabric and can figure out what size to cut the triangles to continue.

All of the work on this quilt was done in 2014. You can read the whole story by reading all the Lansing Leaves posts here.

Linked with:

Monday Making

Throwback Tuesday: Lansing Leaves

Jumping on the bandwagon after everyone has abandoned it, I decided to show you an old post from my many years of blogging.  I chose a random year and a random month. I only wrote one post that month, so it was easy to choose the specific post, July 19, 2014.  In this post, I explained how I made a quilt top while living out of a hotel room for a month. You can read it here, Lansing Leaves Quilt.

Since that post, I added another round of leaves as a border.  I also sewed alternating flying geese for the borders. I wasn't sure if the border fabric matched the center very well and probably had some issue with the size of the rows. You can read the whole story by reading all the Lansing Leaves posts here.

While it is tempting to finish it - either as is, or with the alternating flying geese border, but for now, I am going to keep going with my current quilt, Colonial Cotton Bricks, and at least get the top finished.

2014 End of the Year Show and Tell

I finished two quilts this year. At first, I was ashamed at that lowly number, but now I am proud of it. I quilt for fun, not for a job, so I don't need to be productive. I simply need to make the quilts that provide enjoyment for me. And I certainly did that.

Besides my finished quilts, I also worked on other quilt projects that haven't made it to the finish line yet.

 The quilt on the left, Tuxedo Diamonds, was made in early January.  It was fun to make.  I showed it to you last year, but the colors were not right.  They are more true in this one.

 I was impressed by all the red and white quilt shows, and thought I should make a red and white quilt or two to have my own.  It looks good with the red and white optical illusion quilt I made last year.  I got the idea for this quilt from a quilt I saw on Pinterest.  I don't like this one as much as that one, mostly because it doesn't look like I envisioned.

I worked on this Awards Banquet quilt in April. It goes with the red and white theme, but I wanted to add black.  I have a lot of black and white fabric from a fat quarter swap and I wanted to get started using it.  Like Tuxedo Diamonds, I did not use a quilt pattern, but simply used my own ideas.

I was really having fun making and designing this quilt when I found out I needed to spend a month in Lansing for work with very little notice and after the overtime had already started.

I took all my sewing stuff out of the living room and put it in (what was then) the newly organized craft room so my daughter wouldn't have to look at a mess all month. When I came back, I left the mess in the craft room and worked on other quilts and haven't taken it out yet. I think it just needs to be quilted.

 

My big quilt reveal, of course, is the Improv Quilt, which I already showed you recently.  Once I got over trying to please the Sherri Lynn Wood, I had a lot of fun with the designing aspect of the quilt. I liked being able to make my own decisions about what to do next. I know I can't remember the exact dates on this one, but it was finished before I went to Lansing.  I know I was working on Awards Banquet at the same time as the Improv Quilt. This quilt needs another name, so if you can think of one, let me know. 

I took my sewing machine to Lansing with me, and didn't have a lot of time to decide what project to take with me.  I grabbed a kit that was taunting me when I was cleaning out the craft room.  This kit was waiting while I was trying to implement the "finish the WIPs first" rule, but I decided that the kit had waited long enough, and since it was a kit, it was a WIP.  I was able to work on it after work at the hotel. In Lansing, I worked long hours, but since I didn't have the chores I have at home, I was able to find time to work on it. This one required careful cutting and piecing, which was quite a change from the liberated cutting and piecing of the improv quilt.  The top as directed by the kit is done, as you can see on the table, but I have been adding another border. I put it away when we were hosting a birthday party, and didn't take it out after the party.  I see a recurring theme here.  I think I shouldn't put away any quilts until they are done!

Last, but not least, is this Christmas trees quilt. I have been seeing a lot of trees quilts on Pinterest, and wanted one of my own.  I found a directions for a liberated tree quilt on Diary of a Quilter, and got to work. It is a liberated quilt. I have a lot of Christmas fabric I've gotten on sale over the years, and thought this was a perfect opportunity to use them. I made a whole bunch of trees, and rejected a few that didn't fit the finish size I chose. I'm sure I will be able to use those elsewhere - maybe the back. I started this quilt a couple of days before Christmas, and could have tried to rush this one so I would have another finish for 2014, but I decided to take my time and enjoy the process.  I now have a really nice head start for 2015.






In 2015, I hope to clean up the new mess I made in the craft room and finish organizing it.  Then I want to finish some of the quilts that got abandoned during cleaning missions.  I really enjoyed working on the quilts and they don't deserve to be abandoned. I don't think I will have time to do a lot of quilting in 2015 either, but if I work on finishing what I have already started, I should have some finishes to show for it.

Migrating Geese Race

Migrating Geese

The geese are migrating in all four directions for my Lansing Leaves quilt, and they are racing to the finish to see which group will get there first.  There is no method to my madness.  I started with one row to see how it would work, and started another so that I could chain piece them. Eventually I decided that I should press with an iron instead of finger pressing, and it seemed more efficient to start another row.  The last row took a while to start because I was trying to decide which fabric should be able to go first - should it be my favorite or my least favorite that needs to be "unsewn". Do I even like one fabric better than another.   Finally, I decided to pick a random one and the race began for all four rows. You only see three rows in the photo, because the longest one is in the sewing machine.

I also don't know how many geese I will need, so I am going backward and doing the first step of sewing and cutting the individual geese from time to time.

Border Contrast

This border scares me a bit.  This quilt has the least contrast between the fabrics (dark vs. light) than any other quilts I have made.  I tend to make sure there is strong contrast so you can see all my hard work.  The borders have even less contrast than the blocks.  I keep telling myself that it will be fine - after all, that's what happens in the fall, all the colors jumble together into one glorious pile, and you can't tell one leaf from the next until you look closely.  

Photo Story

I've been thinking about a blogger/designer who talked about a photo story.  Instead of having a simple picture, add other pictures around it to make it a theme and create a mood.  I looked up online collage makers to try this, and found picmonkey.  I remember that site - I might even have used it before.  I added some random photos of Lansing Leaves. I know it isn't very creative - all of the photos are of the quilt - but it does tell a story behind the scenes of the hotel room where it started and the yard sale table that serves as the design wall. This table was also used to stage the house I was selling, and I remember sitting in the breezeway reading a book as I was waiting for a contractor to finish.  The collage also reminds you of the curved piecing aspect of the quilt. It shows the improvement of my sewing skills over time, as I found curved piecing to be rather easy.  The hint of the improv quilt on the wall tells its chronology in line of the quilts I made, and that part tells the story of secrets yet to be revealed.

Quilt Trends

I drove my daughter to a job interview, which happens to be very close to Quilt Trends in Columbus. I hadn't been to the store, so I decided to stop in.  It is a cute little store. They had a variety of items, and a long arm which they rent.  I am still on a strict budget, particularly since I haven't finished organizing the studio yet.  They had a lot of quilts on display, and their Christmas display was especially striking, and I couldn't resist buying the pattern book so I could make a similar display for the holidays. I also bought a stiff brush to use with the fabric paint sticks I got as a gift.

And just to prove that progress is being made on the Lansing Leaves quilt, here are the pieces for the migrating geese border. I did have to add new fabric, but will also use as much of the original fabric as possible.

Lansing Purchases

I usually document my purchases of fabric on my blog. I don't know why really. Maybe it is so that I ask myself, "when was the last time I bought something?," I can look it up.

When I went to Lansing, I noticed that there were two craft stores on my way from the freeway exit to the job site.  There was a Michaels, a Hobby Lobby. I later discovered that there was a Joann's not too far away, and just a little more driving would take me to a quilt store.  Yes, there were four, count them - four-  places for me to shop!  I haven't been buying many quilt supplies lately, mostly because I have too much already, so it was a little dangerous going to these places. But, yes, I did go to all of these places.  After work, I would stop by at one of the places just to window shop, but I did pick up a little bit at each place.

I was tired, and I remembered that I didn't want to buy too much stuff, but I did realize that this isn't a touristy place, and I couldn't find the usual souvenir bricabrac, so I decided that I could buy souvenirs that would remind me of my Lansing journey in the form of fabric.  My quilting budget would be spared!

When I went to the Joann, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby, I was disappointed in that they looked like the stores in my home state.  In fact, they were smaller than the ones here, so there wasn't much there that I hadn't seen before.  I also didn't have coupons with me and no time to find or print them, so that limited me even further.

Let me show you the souvenirs I got. 

Since I was limiting fabric purchases to quilts I was actually making, I decided to look at ribbons and beads.  Here are the things I got from the box stores.  Yes it looks like I am going to have to work on my crazy quilts really soon. There are quarter yard pieces of different ribbons I can use on a crazy quilt.  Some beads. A charm of a snake.  On the bottom right, there are charms of elephants - that's my favorite purchase of the trip.

At the quilt store, there was more temptation there in the form of fabric.  I allowed myself a few pieces since I was having a hard time deciding. There are two quarter yard pieces, two 5" packs, and a book to go along with the ribbons. In case you are wondering about the sashiko in the background, that's something Tanya made for me.

That's it. That's all I bought in the entire month!  In case you are wondering about the progress of my Lansing Leaves quilt, I have started cutting the fabric.It looks pretty good as a table topper for the dining room set I got at a yard sale.

Lansing Leaves Quilt Progress

Okay, I have to admit that there hasn't been any physical work done on the Lansing Leaves Quilt.  [edit, I put the leaves border on].  I have decided that I want to use Migrating Geese as a border instead of leaving it plain.  I'm pretty sure now that I "borrowed" at least one of the fabrics out of this kit, and I don't have any big pieces that work well as a substitute.  I did find a fat quarter collection that does work, so I have decided to piece a border.  I think this will also make me feel better about using a kit, because with this change, the quilt will not look very much like all the others that were made from this kit.  I am actually pretty excited about this, because I think flying geese will work well with the leaves in this fall quilt. I've been trying out different sizes of borders to see what I like better.

Since it was Pets on Quilts day, I decided to let Zeus showcase my progress so far. I had to put the quilt on top of him, since otherwise you wouldn't get to see the quilt!

Lansing Leaves Quilt

I am a slow quilter - just methodically working a few minutes a day here and there and making slow progress.  This means that my blog rarely has a final ta-da Here's the Quilt I Made Today posts.  What it is supposed to have is some in progress shots to show what has been happening so you can see the quilt unfolding over time.

The one quilt I made this year, I couldn't show you, because I was testing a pattern that will be published in a book.  It was disappointing that I couldn't show you, because it left for little quilty blog fodder during the time I was making it.

Recently,  I started a new quilt, and I couldn't show that one to you either!  This time it was because I couldn't transfer the photos from my camera to my computer. So instead of slowly seeing the unfolding, you can see all of the photos at once.   My job sent me to Lansing for a month. I like to think that the hotel cleaning staff enjoyed seeing the quilt progressing, but I hardly saw them, and when I did, they didn't mention it.  I was working crazy hours at work, and just had a few minutes here and there to work on the quilt in the hotel room, but over the month, I think I made pretty good progress.

It all started with a fabric from a kit and a photograph in the quilt shop brochure.   They were teaching a class on it.  I also had a template from a book I got from the library.  A kit was faster to pack then trying to figure out what make and whether I had everything I needed.

Next step was to cut the fabric and sew the strips together that make up the leaves. That's where I discovered that taking a bigger ruler would have helped. I only had a six inch square ruler.

After that, it was time to use the template to cut the fabric.  I had to buy some scissors. I was planning on rotary cutting, but scissors worked much better.

Here's a look at my sewing space. I had to move the sewing machine to cut the fabric.

For some reason, I thought that the leaves in the center were bigger than the leaves on the sides, and that I was missing parts of the template, so I wasted some time making the missing templates, but I finally figured out the blocks were the same size and these three templates really fit together.

Checking the layout on the design bed.

I found a walking path in the neighborhood, and everything is very green.  It seemed strange to come back and work with fall colors.

  All the blocks are now pieced.

The blocks have all been trimmed and the rows have been sewn together. Time for the inner border. Since I didn't have a pattern, I had to try to figure out the border sizes, after long days of work. I also wasn't sure where Borders 1, 2 and 3 from the kit were supposed to go. There are four fabrics in borders, so I wasn't sure whether one has to be used in more than one place or whether I "borrowed" one of the borders for another quilt.

After I had finished cutting and sewing, I realized that I had done the math incorrectly (forgot to add one of the seams), so the border would be too small for the next round of leaves. I didn't have enough fabric to cut all new borders, so I made just two of the borders slightly larger than the others.

 


I was going to have time on the weekend to put together the rest of the top, but I wound up working all that weekend too, and then it was time to start packing up.

I'm home now and I have housework to do again, and preparing my own food. It seems like it may be a little while before I can finish this quilt.