A New Year’s Wish for Quilters

 

May your points always meet

May your thread never break

May your borders behave

And may inspiration never desert you

 

Thank you all for your friendship and encouragement!  I wish all of you joy and peace in 2012.

		2011 Finishes VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

		2011 Flimsies VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

(Borders still pending on two of these tops…)

Two reveals

The sun is shining again after more than two weeks of dreary grey.  I thought I’d celebrate by photographing my quilts outside, but the wind kept whipping the quits around so uninspired indoor shots it is!

*****

The baby quilt (pattern: Turtle Twist by Blue Meadow Designs):


The turtle is a much smaller part of the quilt than I expected.  The photo in the magazine made it seem much more prominent.  I still like it though, and the top came together very quickly
I needed a bit of handwork right about the time I got this quilt basted, so I hand quilted the checkerboard and the turtle block.  I was enjoying the hand quilting but started worrying about finishing on time so I machine quilted the two borders.

*****

The Swap quilt:

 
I should come up with a better name, but I’ve called it the Swap Quilt for a year.  I doubt any other name will stick now!  This was all machine quilted.  I worried a bit about messing it up since I’m new to machine quilting, but then decided that it was made of blocks from many supportive quilting friends who would be supportive and would totally understand that I have to start somewhere. 
In the end I’m very pleased with how it turned out. I had to make a few changes to my quilting plans.  I had planned to put clusters of maple leaves in the setting triangles.  It seemed appropriate for Canuck Quilter’s quilt.  However, the print completely obscured the quilting and I figured out that I on busier prints I need longer lines and curves.  That’s why I put in those fans instead, and I really like the old fashioned look they give.

*****

That’s it for quilting for now.  I’m off to the garden to divide a few hostas. I’ve never done that before and I’m a bit worried I’ll kill them instead, but as with the quilting, I’ve got to start somewhere!  Time to go get my jeans muddy!

That took how long?

I managed to baste the swap quilt on the carpet without pinning it to the carpet after all.  Well, I did pin it down in a couple of places, but not too many. 
I started quilting it yesterday.  It didn’t go as quickly as I anticipated. Would you believe it took me three hours just to quilt in the ditch on both sides of the white sashing?  I am happy to report that my stitching, while it still needs work, was straighter and more even than in my previous effort, and the needle didn’t skip out of the ditch as often either.
I’m glad I tested out my free motion ideas ahead of time.  I wasn’t 100% happy with what I posted last time, so I went back to the pencil and paper again.  I unpicked the center stuff in one block of the test runner and substituted a spinning sunburst. I’m much happier with it and that’s what I’ve been quilting on my quilt yesterday and today.
I have 11 of the 25 blocks quilted.  I only got 4 done this afternoon but there’s still the evening…

Whittling down the UFO list

My Hawaiian quilt pillow is finished!  It only took me 15 years and a couple of months :) 
It came as a kit, with the applique piece already cut out.  I wasn’t very familiar with sewing at the time so it was slow going when I first attempted it.  Knowing what I know now I realize that the poor quality fabric and the very poor instructions that came with the kit probably didn’t help my progress.  I don’t know that I could have gotten the hand quilting done following those directions if I had gotten to that step 15 years ago, so I’m glad I set it aside till more recently.
Here’s how the UFO list stands now:
1.  Leaf quilt – needs basting and hand quilting
2. Swap quilt – needs basting and machine quilting (currently stumped on what I want to quilt on it)
3. Whimsy pinwheel/windmills – needs borders, basting, quilting (hand or machine?)
4. Designing a Canadiana quilt (maybe this doesn’t count as a UFO since there’s no fabric actually cut yet?)
It feels great to have the list whittled down like this.  It’s about as long as I like it. It gives me one of every activity I like to have available: piecing (Whimsy’s pieced border), machine quilting and hand quilting.  I think  the swap quilt will be my next big focus.  Any thoughts about what to quilt on it?  There is an extra 3 inch border and prairie points all around (all in the same fabric as the setting triangles) since this picture was taken.

Progress

Every day this week I've woken up thinking this would be the day I'd have time to get things done in the sewing department, and every day it hasn't happened.  When there's no milk or veggies left in the fridge it's time to do groceries, and when there are no more clean socks, that's my cue to get around to laundry.  Let’s not talk about the state of the bathroom...and will you look at the time, it's time to run to school and collect the kids...  In a nutshell, the things I was waiting to finish before writing a post aren't done.
However, I did make progress on various projects last weekend.  First up, the socks. I finished them Sunday night and they’ve been worn to school already.  I could probably have made them a touch longer in the foot.  I’ll know for the next pair.  They really were not as difficult to knit as I’d imagined.  I’d always heard about the dreaded “turning the heel”, but the pattern instructions were very clear and easy to follow.  Isn’t the internet great?
Next up, remember this quilt? It has been waiting a while for the promised borders and prairie points.

i I It acquired 3-inch borders on the weekend but is still waiting for the points.  I used the method that yields a continuous string of prairie points instead of having to make and place each one individually.  I was quite pleased with my string of points.

These are made from 3” squares.  They looked great on their own, but I’m glad I set this strip on the quilt before making the strips for the remaining three sides.  The scale was all wrong!


It looks like little saw teeth or a pinked edge, not quite what I envisioned.  After a moment or two of dejection, I regrouped and cut a few squares to audition point sizes, which I suppose I should have done in the first place!  I settled on points made from 4-inch squares.  I also decided that with the continuous prairie points method the points end up overlapping more than I like for this particular quilt, so I’m making the 100 points individually after all so that I can adjust the overlap.  I’m glad I had enough fabric left to start over in a new size.
Once the points are on (hopefully tomorrow?) this quilt will be ready to baste and quilt.  I want to machine quilt it, so I need to practice.  I know I’ve said that before, but really, I’ve now taken concrete steps towards practicing. Here’s the last project I completed on the weekend:

I cut a stack of batting and fabric to make practice quilt sandwiches.  Now I can’t use the excuse that I don’t have sandwich fixings to grab when I have 10 spare minutes to practice.  Yup, I’ll be practicing any minute now, if I can just pull myself away from blogs…
One last thing.  Last night I just needed to FINISH something, so I made a cute little wallet from a pattern I got for my birthday.  This only took about 30 minutes to make. It still needs a snap closure, which I didn’t have on hand, but I’m counting it as a finish anyway.

Summer sewing

Summer means kids' camps, which require sleeping bags, which are unwieldy to lug around. Happily, someone else agrees and created a free pattern (find it here) for these:


They are very roomy, so any sleeping bag should fit even if you're not very good at rolling it into a small enough roll to fit in the original bag it came in. As it turns out my kids' sleeping bag rolling skills are much better than I thought, so they can fit pillows in their bags as well. My son happily took his to Scout camp last week and my daughter went off to Girl Scout camp with hers yesterday. No prizes for guessing whose is whose - I think the fabric prints give it away!
I haven't finished any quilting projects. I was sucked into a few good books instead, cutting into quilting time. There are worse fates :). I hadn't enjoyed a good uninterrupted read in quite a while. My husband and I also indulged in a movie watching spree, also something we hadn't done in a long time. In the space of 2 weeks we ran through the 3 Pirates of the Caribbean movies (very unsatisfying ending, by the way!), and all three Lord of The Rings installments.


Back to quilting. I said I hadn't finished anything, but I did make some progress on several different things. I hoped to have a picture of a finished runner and place mats set instead of just the peek at right, but my beautiful machine is acting up. It is making awful banging sounds when I try to free motion quilt, and messing up the bottom thread half the time. Very frustrating. I'm taking it in to the store on Saturday so they can either show me what I'm doing wrong or fix the machine, whichever is needed. Of course, this little delay cropped up precisely because I have a deadline on this particular project!

My mom's table runner and place mats have a few more seams in them, and I've been to the quilt shop for border and backing fabric for them.

Last but certainly not least, I've made progress on my swap quilt. Ta da!

It still needs borders. I've decided not to add an inner border after all. I'll just add borders of the same fabric as the setting triangles so that the center appears to float. I also plan to add a prairie point edging in the same fabric. That's the plan for now, at least. It may change by the time I get around to finishing!
I hope you are all having a great summer (or winter if you are down in the other hemisphere...)I haven't been keeping up with all of you very well. My attendance online has been a little spotty and will continue to be for the next month or so as I enjoy the season.

Swaps on the wall

I've been slow to post pictures of the last few sets of blocks I received, but I was just as excited about them. Here they are now, from Ruth, Theri and Beth:



Thank you very much ladies! Your wonderful blocks have been up on the design wall since they came. I have two sets still to come then I can start stitching them all together.

That trip to the quilt shop that resulted in buying a new machine was originally a trip to buy fabric for the sashing, setting triangles and borders. Here's what I came home with, besides the new machine (did I mention the new machine? Sorry, I'm still a bit excited about that!). I had planned to make the setting triangles from the same fabric as the sashing but when I put all the blocks up on the wall together I noticed that many of them have at least a touch of pink, rose or wine. I decided to try pulling them all together by making the cornerstones and setting triangles echo those colours.

Last night I worked on the sashing. I messed up my planning and made a few of the white strips too short, but I have enough fabric to correct that. I'll make certain not to be doing it late a night again though!

The last thing I did before going to bed much later than I should have was test my idea on the design wall. The blocks were already up so it was quick to add sashing strips and setting triangles. I didn't start low enough on the wall so I ran out of batting at the top to lay out the setting triangles there, but this still gives me a pretty good idea what the quilt will look like.


I plan a thin inner border of the polka dot fabric, followed by a wider border in the red fabric, and perhaps a prairie point edging instead of binding. Now I need to go practice, practice, practice my free-motion quilting so I can eventually quilt this one! Free motion is just as tricky as I expected...

I've got mail!

Thank you ladies! I'm racing my daughter to the mailbox these days because the postman is delivering more than bills and junk mail :)

These lovelies arrived Thursday from Mary (Stash Heaven). That magazine seriously interfered with my preparations for taking 7 Brownie Girl Scouts to camp, but I was more disciplined on Friday and left for camp fairly well-rested and well-prepared on Saturday morning.

Ann's (A Good Yarn's) beautiful blocks and goodies arrived Saturday after I left (good timing, those Brownies would have been disappointed to delay their departure while I leafed through this magazine too...). As it was, the package was a lovely surprise when I came home Sunday afternoon after a mostly sleepless night. The chocolates are a wonderful restorative.

Monday the postman had a little trouble fitting everything in the mailbox but he persevered. When my daughter beat me to the mailbox she did a little happy dance and presented me with three packages. (The rest of these pictures insisted on loading sideways. I have no idea why, but they will have to do.)

These bright blocks and goodies came from Liri at Liriopia's Legacy. Her embroidered block is superb, and the back looks just as tidy as the front. When it slipped out of the package I didn't realize right away that it was wrong side up and I puzzled a bit over what "AWOI" stood for... Then I turned it over and was even more impressed with the right side, plus the letters now made sense!

Marsha of Grandma's Quilts sent these pretty blocks and the quilted ornament. I'm saving it for my Christmas tree, and borrowing the idea for 2010's ornament. We add a new batch of homemade ornaments each year, and though the tree is getting awfully full and I'm running out of ideas I've been told the tradition has to continue. Thanks for the inspiration Marsha!

Kathleen (Seventh Sister) has an impressive variety of fabric styles in her stash and shared some bits with me along with her cheerful blocks. It's nice to increase my pitiful stash of scraps - I may manage a scrap quilt eventually!

Today I found Christine's package before getting the kids at school. I managed to restrain myself and leave it in the mailbox so that 1) I wouldn't be late to pick up the kids and 2) my daughter wouldn't know I sometimes sneak to the mailbox while she's at school (mailbox checking is supposed to be her special privilege). She doesn't notice a few extra bill envelopes on my desk, but she will notice a couple of new swap blocks on the wall!

Here are Christine's blocks - one showcasing her bright fabrics, and another from her Civil War reproduction stash.

Now that over half my blocks have arrived I've started playing with them:

Sashing? No sashing? On point? Hmm. I'll need to keep pondering. Whatever the setting, this quilt will have a much greater variety of fabric than I'd ever have chosen on my own, and that makes it just plain fun!

Swap blocks done

Ta da! All my swap blocks are done. I made 4 extra to make a table topper for my kitchen table and borrowed one to make my layout come out even. I'm auditioning layouts for when I get all your blocks, swappers!

Looking at this I've decided I need to replenish my stash of blues and make myself a blue and white quilt. I'd bought all this fabric a few years back for just that purpose but never got around to it. Now I'm inspired to make one after all. Eventually. Once I have a few more quilts moved off the UFO and WIP lists. (For my family who isn't familiar with the terms, that's "unfinished object" and "work in-progress").

Lisa and Katie, your blocks are now in the post office's custody, on their way to you.

Change of plans

On Friday afternoon I called the longarm quilter to find out if and when she could baste two quilts for handquilting. It turned out that she was about to start two fairly large projects, but she could squeeze my basting in before those if I brought the quilts to her on the weekend. Otherwise I'd be waiting over a month. Guess who finished preparing quilt backs on Friday evening and went for a little drive on Saturday?

That left me a bit at loose ends on Saturday so I decided to use the time to work on my swap blocks. I cut up enough fabric for the rest of my sets and sewed up a few. I did a few more on Sunday. Then I figured spring was showing signs of actually arriving (yay!) and that would lead me to yard chores and planning flowerbeds and that would lead to less quilty time so I decided I really should just go ahead and sew all the blocks up now. This is how far I got:

Obviously they still need frames. The rest of the blocks got as far as you see on the right. Then the quilter called and said the quilts were basted and my focus shifted completely! I just had to start quiting and see if the motifs I had planned for them worked as well on the quilts as in my head. Pictures will follow eventually. I'm off to quilt!

March Swap Blocks

I finished my first two sets of blocks for the APQ Blog Buddies Swap. I hope they're scrappy enough even if they're colour themed. I've discovered my stash is definitely blue-heavy, from all the fat quarters I bought at once a couple of years ago for a blue scrappy quilt that hasn't happened yet. All my other quilts yielded surprisingly few leftovers. I guess I've done a good job (or bad job, depending on your point of view) just buying enough for a particular project.



And look at what these blocks do on point. It amazes me that just looking at a different angle makes me see more movement. Do you see that too, or is just my eyes? I just may have to set my share of the blocks on point.