Bronx Quilter

Interesting Doings in Blog Land

2012-01-08T11:54:00.000-05:00

So since I haven't been doing any sewing this past week, I have been doing a lot of surfing. I am finding a lot of interesting things brewing for 2012 in blogland.

Help With Goal Tending

One thing that might be of additional help to those of us trying to stay on track on our quilt goals for 2012 is that Rhonda, over at the Quilter In The Gap blog is hosting a quarterly 2012 Finish-A-Long.

You post what you want to accomplish during each quarter and at the end of the quarter when you post about your finishes, you are entered into a giveaway for prizes. Seems like a good incentive and forces you to take the longer view than just what you need to get done this week but a more manageable view than trying to focus on the whole year.

For those weekly finish celebrations there is still "Whoop, Whoop Fridays" at Sarah's Confession of a Fabric Addict, Amy Lou Who's Sew and Tell Fridays and Amanda Jean's Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday which she started last year and is continuing this year.

Red and White Quilts

For all you Red and White fans there's the "Just Takes Two" Mystery Quilt.

In honor of the Rose exhibit this past year, Gay of Sentimental Stitches and Brenda who runs the official Dear Jane website are going to be issuing red and white block designs twice a month. I signed up to get the blocks although I don't know if actually making them will get on the agenda this year. But I loved the exhibit too much to miss out on this and admit that a red and white quilt is now added to the bucket list. I look forward to seeing where all the talented quilters out there take this one.

Quilts Of Valor

Alycia of the Alycia Quilts blog, is calling for people to make 12 for 12 Quilt of Valor quilts this year. I have long wanted to make a QOV quilt. I also have made an unofficial "55 by 55" challenge for myself to donate quilts. I need eight more by my birthday in May to stay on track and hope a QOV will be among them. I'm pretty sure I won't make twelve but maybe some of you can?

Make Something New!

And then I came across reference to this on a few blogs: Barbara at Cat Patches is hosting a "NewFO Challenge" (I love that term!!!).

This one is for those of you that don't have a bunch of UFOs laying around. She is encouraging everyone to start something new each month with no deadlines or pressure of finishing it. Now that's challenge I could really get into! It is something I had planned to do at mid year IF I complete Myra's challenge and meet the first six challenges for Judy. I have more than a few NewFOs laying around but will resist the urge of joining in for now.

Bucket List: Lone Star

And for all you bucket list quilters: ever planned to do a Lone Star Quilt? It's definitely on my Bucket List. Well, if you need a sympathetic group to work along with, Quilt Sue at the Quilt Times blog is hosting a "Lone Star Quilt-A-Long".

Join on the first Saturday of each month to share your progress, projects, patterns and ask question or just get support for your quilt journey. Again, one that I'd love to jump into at some point but will resist the urge for now.

In the Zines

Finally, a friend and I are planning to make the "Dream Catcher" quilt in this post which has been designed by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession. It is supposed to come out in an issue of Australian Quilters Companion Magazine some time this year. My friend (a big Kaffe Fassette fan) already had all the stripe prints in her stash and I caught some sales and ordered mine over the holiday. This will be my first Kaffe fabric quilt and the first Australian design I've done. I love the freedom and high spiritedness of the Aussies quilts. I very much wanted to sign up for their Sue Ross BOM last year. Again, if I can stick to my UFO goals, maybe my reward will be to do that too.

So that's what I've found floating out there on the web for this year. I'm sure there's much more so let me know what you've come across!

Hello to 2012

2012-01-08T11:53:00.000-05:00

I hope the old saying about what you do on New Year's Day is what you'll do all year isn't really true because despite wanting to start the year right, I didn't do any sewing on that day. I did put a considerable amount of time into amassing the details of a new purchase and then fortunately talked myself right out of it.

But January 2 I did get myself in gear because on New Year's Day, Judy revealed the first project number for her UFO Challenge. It is number 5. As committed to in this post, that number on my list corresponded to a dual set of projects: My Safari Stars and the WAK Triptych. The top for Safari Stars was completed back in early November and awaits decisions about how to quilt it. The Triptych project had been listed on my sidebar as a HSY but I had actually started some of the planning work and fabric selection for it back in 2008 so I have accordingly added that date when I moved it to the WIP list.

I pulled out the pieces and got the photo fabric printing done for it. I am obscuring the full images for now because they are using the art work of an artist and I need to ask permission to show it.

Since that day I haven't worked on anything. DH was home on vacation giving me unfettered access to the car and an extra set of hands for things like the post-trip laundry and taking down the Christmas decorations so I spent the week on those things and running errands. I am a little anxious going forward because I also received notice last week that I am to start jury duty tomorrow. Last time I only served for two days before being released. Since I'd really like the same thing to happen this time, I just bet I'll get picked to sit for a case instead!

Staying optimistic about the week ahead. Happy Quilting!!

The Year In Review

2011-12-30T18:33:00.002-05:00

NOTE: This is a pretty long post so if you are coming along for the ride, grab a cuppa your beverage of choice and set a spell while I look at what I did and didn't get to do this year in quilts! (Yeah, I know, a week in the South will do that to 'ya).

Well, it's time for me to take a look back at the quilting year soon to be finished. 2011 was a crazy year for me, one where my quilting focus changed constantly. Despite a swath of sewing, I only ended up completely finishing one quilt for the year, a holiday quilt for display. As a result the list for next year is already in place and will consist of a lot of stuff worked on or pledged to be worked on this year that I now really want to finish. So let's look at what transpired in "THE YEAR THAT WAS" (cue important sounding fanfare music).

The Biggest (and non-quilty) News: We Moved!

At the end of February, my family and I moved to our new townhouse from an apartment in our co-op complex. We had waited four years for the call for an available unit. Getting it gave my two sons their own rooms and we gained a terrace and dedicated dining room that also allowed for a shared dining, office and quilting space. Previously I had quilted in one half of the third bedroom of our old apartment (and hence why my sons had to share a bedroom) :

When we moved my quilt space started as this:

But now looks like this:

That is my old machine in the picture, my Janome went in the shop for cleaning shortly before we left last week.

I have mixed feelings about being in the dining room: on the one hand, because the living room is on the other side of it and my sewing and cutting tables are right next to the main household computer, I am always surrounded by my family and in the thick of the household goings on. But there are times and projects when I could really use some solitude and a closed door. Fortunately, I can get that when the rest of the family is out of the house at school and work.

The Original Plan For the Year: UFO Busting!

The year was supposed to be focused on just working on projects of this nature: all those projects half started or awaiting the transition from being a pile of blocks to becoming a top or waiting to be quilted. I had even signed up for Myra's PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge with the full expectation that with six months to focus on them, I would get a lot done. But the move shattered that dream by completely changing both my focus and available time. As the year progressed, I pushed myself way off course so many times during the year, that while I did do some significant work on one UFO, I completely failed to meet this goal. The list that started the year included:

UGRR/Pioneer Project
Brrr! Park
Crumb Quilt #1
Boy's Blue Lagoons
Striped Squares
Blue & White Dresdens

Pictures of all of them can be seen in this post. Additionally, I also planned to quilt a top called "Flowing Silk" that was to be donated to the BASICS quilt gather. In the end, the only project worked on at all was the UGRR/Pioneer Project. The blocks which had been finished in 2010, were pieced into tops and are layered awaiting quilting.

Fortunately Myra is running a six month continuation of last year's challenge at the start of 2012 so I definitely will participate with the hope that I can try again to tackle these for the first half of 2012 with better results!

Also In the Original Plan: Working On BOMs!

While the main focus of the year was supposed to be UFOs, there was a set of "new" projects I wanted to keep up to date and that was the Block of the Month Projects I had signed up for in the last quarter of 2010. I had three:

Aunt Grace Circle of Friends
Civil War Chronicles
Jan Patek House & Garden

Of these, only the Aunt Grace is currently a top waiting for quilting.

The Chronicles blocks are complete up to the eleventh month.

Completion of the top will be delayed until February when the BOM organizer, Homestead Hearth, receives their fabric order for the last set of border blocks. I had hoped to start the Jan Patek BOM while I was away for the holidays but it looks like it will now be a HSY (pronounced "Hussy" and stands for "Haven't Started Yet") in 2012 instead.

Expansion Of the Year's Plan: the Civil War Series!

2011 was the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War and there were a lot of interesting documentaries and specials on the topic on TV. I also read books on the period like "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Red Badge of Courage" and the "Sugar Camp Quilt" and "Union Quilters" from Jennifer Chivarini's "Elm Creek Quilts" series. When I realized I had projects in the previous two categories that were both made from CW reproduction fabrics and a HSY project with the same fabric theme, I decided to expand my project list to include this series of quilts. So in this corner we have the layered UGRR/Pioneer project in the UFOs and the Chronicles BOM.

Barbara Brackman, the noted quilt historian, debuted her Weekly Civil War Quilt block series at the start of the year. I quickly realized this was a perfect opportunity to use up my scraps. I had hoped to work on them using the leftover fabrics from the Chronicles blocks and the remaining stash after the UGRR/Pioneer tops were finished. But then I also realized that I had one other CW project that I had long awaited starting: my Merrimac Dresdens. I had already raided the stash for that project for a few pieces for the UGRR/Pioneer project so I figured that actually making it would also clear that stash AND provide even more fodder for the Brackman project. Here is the finished Merrimac top:

I plan to finally start working on the Brackman blocks either on New Year's Day or shortly thereafter. Fortunately, the block patterns will be up on her blog until July, 2012.

Somewhat Sidetracked By Some HSYs!

Although the year's focus was to clean out UFOs, another concern was to also reduce the pile of HSYs . These are projects that I had already purchased all the fabrics for and sit in bags or bins waiting to be started. The UFO plan had started in anticipation of moving and not wanting to have to pay to move so much fabric. But when the moving plan went into effect a lot sooner than expected and then we actually moved, the realization was that now I needed to pare down to have space for all the stuff I had! The HSYs worked on this year were:

Merrimac Dresdens (which you saw before) and Safari Stars

Both tops are done and now awaiting quilting although I assure you there are many more where those came from!

The Unexpected: A Rash of New Projects!

As noted before, the year was supposed to be devoted to clearing out UFOs and HSYs. But the move generated so many new opportunities and reasons to display quilts and new ideas for quilts are always percolating so it is hard to resist them when they come due! The new projects were:

Valor (a Pat Sloan design)

Floribunda (a Bonnie Hunter antique reproduction and Quilt-A-Long project)

Crumb Houses (For a Quilt Along led by Jo of Jo's Country Junction)

Anita's Arrowhead (A Holiday Quilt)

Anita's Arrowhead became "All Spruced Up" in tribute to the backing fabric and the fact that it is the first new quilt made for display in our new home. It is also the only finish for the year. The Crumb Houses are still underway but Valor and Floribunda are tops that will be quilted next year.

So 2011 wound up being a lot like like 2009 when I worked on sixteen projects during the year with only five getting completely done and another six getting completed the next year (and some of those that were not completed then are still on the UFO list now). Lets hope that 2012 will be more like 2010, a big finishing year!

Wishing You and Yours a Joyous and Prosperous New Year! See you in 2012!!

The Good News and The Bad News

2011-12-29T12:41:00.001-05:00

Hello from North Carolina!! The Good News is that the Anita's Arrowhead project is now my first (and only) complete finish for 2011!!

I had gotten it assembled, layered and half quilted before we left New York last Saturday. It is a requirement when I visit my MIL to bring a project to work on. Starting Monday (after hitting some of the after-Christmas sales) we were able to get in some quilt time. In the days following, I finished the quilting, cut and attached the binding and got up early and finished sewing it on this morning. Now that it's finished, its "given name" will be "All Spruced Up" after the backing fabric and purpose: to decorate my couch during the holidays!

This was a good project to make my way back into stitching my quilts. I did it in an allover swirl pattern and the busy fabrics hide a lot of sins. In fact, excuse any pins you see in the picture, those are spots I need to re-do some skipped stitches. And I really fudged up my binding corners but for a to-be-seen-once-a-year quilt, it will have to do! I am happy that at one point I did find my free motion groove and know what I need to do and focus on in the future. And I am grateful for all the tops I made this year because they will provide me with steady flow of practice tops for 2012!

So the finish is good news but before we left there was some Bad News: The Chronciles BOM will NOT be a flimsie for 2011 as hoped. I got word before we left from Homestead Hearth (the organizer of my BOM) that their supplier of the fabric for the BOM has to do a REPRINT of the red fabric used for the border blocks in order to fufill their order. They are going to be sending out some of the fabric to get the blocks started but won't get the rest to us until FEBRUARY!

Ooh boy! I was already worried about getting the blocks done (have I mentioned that it is sixty-eight blocks?!?). On the other hand, this means I can A) Take my time and work on getting the center constructed and B) get maybe a little less than half the blocks done and then finish the rest when the rest of the fabric gets in. But I am disappointed in not having this flimsy in the can for this year and not meeting my BOM goal for the year either.

We will be leaving NC early Friday morning so expect to be back in New York by that afternoon. My hope is to get a "Year In Review" post up before we ring in 2012. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday and are looking forward to celebrating the New Year!

2012 UFO Challenges

2011-12-21T10:04:00.003-05:00

Challenge #1: Continuing the PHDs

I have already made my lists for 2012 and now is the time to commit. This year I participated in Myra's PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge. I am sad to say that I did not get anything completed although my UGRR/Pioneer Sampler project got as far as being layered and I doubt that would have happened without the challenge.

The good news for me is that many of Myra's participants are in the same boat so rather than starting a new challenge Myra is extending the challenge for the first six months of 2012 so that participants can try again to complete the things they had listed for this year. My original list of six projects is here and that works out great because that gives me one project a month to commit to working on. This year, without a move to deal with and all the new ideas for quilts that come with it, maybe I can settle in and focus on what I already have in house.

Challenge #2: Judy's Patchwork Times UFO Challenge

Judy is repeating her UFO Challenge for 2012 and I've decided to join in. There were projects I had expected to get to once I had completed the PHD challenge and there were a bunch of new projects I made tops for during this year. So Judy's challenge is great for me. I also like the additional challenge of having to work on whatever project she calls for that month--the choice of project is out of my hands. I will admit that there have been times where I've avoided working on something because I couldn't decide on what to work on so this will eliminate that problem. Here's my list for Judy's challenge:

1. Autumn DWR - Piecing needs to be finished.

2. Floribunda - Needs To be Quilted

3. Merrimac Dresdens - Needs To be Quilted

4. Chronicles BOM - Hopefully this BOM will be a top before the end of 2011 (I am still waiting for the last kit for the border blocks to arrive) and then it will need to be quilted

5. Safari Stars/WAK Triptych - Two companion projects, the first (pictured) needs to be quilted and the second to be photo transferred and pieced

6. Pulpit Tile - An old UFO that I need a push to quilt (and need to get a picture of)

7. Aunt Grace Circle of Friends BOM - Needs To be Quilted

8. Bouncing Colorblocks - A swap quilt that needs to be quilted

9. Sage Sampler - This one almost made the PHD list; still needs piecing

10. Brrr! Park - Layered, Needs To be Quilted (and need a picture of)

11. Civil War BOW Sampler - Now that all my other CW projects are pieced, I'm hoping to finally use all the scraps to get these made up since the blocks will only be up on the site until July. Needs to be pieced.

12. Jan Patek House & Garden BOM - The last of the 2011 BOMs I participated in. I hope to start it while I am traveling over the next week. Needs to be appliqued.

And just to add a little more spice to the pot, a few other priorities are to get my Crumbs blocks finished for Jo's Crumb Along reveal at the end of January, make good on the promise to contribute two quilts to the BASICS quilt gather, quilt a finished top for Memorial Day/Fourth of July display and piece and quilt a Halloween quilt. In the end, whatever I get done, however few or many, is a blessing!

Getting Down To The Wire.....

2011-12-19T23:50:00.000-05:00

Woo Hoo, all the Anita's Arrowhead blocks are now done! I finished sewing the last row of blocks today. So this pile....

....became this top.

The backing and binding fabric is already in house (picture below) and I have a ton of batting so I just need to decide what I will use for this.

This looks like it will be the first and ONLY complete finish for this year. It is definitely the first one I am ready to quilt with no fears or trepidation. It's for holiday display on the the back of the couch and busy enough that an all over design or maybe even stippling will be in order, simple to do, simple to finish. O.k. hoping that's not going to be famous last words......

More on this later you can bet!

An Important Milestone (For Me) Has Been Reached!!

2011-12-14T12:28:00.000-05:00

The Civil War Chronicles Month 11 Blocks are done!

And here are all the accumulated blocks.

I am finally up to date and am now waiting for the last month's set -- the sixty-eight (yes, 68!!) border blocks. The goal is to get this top done by the end of year. The debate is whether that will happen before we go away next weekend (since I am also trying to finish up the Anita's Arrowhead Xmas quilt blocks) or if I will be taking this one with me to finish the construction while away. We will see, what we will see........

Either way I am happy to have gotten this far with it. I'll say it again, thank god for Quilt-Pro Triangle Magic Software and the Quilt In A Day Flying Geese Rulers. They rock and I couldn't have done it without them!

Another One Bites the Dust.....

2011-12-12T15:34:00.000-05:00

The Month 10 blocks for the Civil War Chronicles BOM are now finished:

Although not without mishaps along the way that had to be corrected......

Now there is only one more month in house (Month 11) to be completed and I am reviewing what I need to do for those blocks. The last month's blocks should arrive either this week or early next week. Given that there are sixty-eight border blocks to be made, I hope it comes early this week.

In the meantime, I am also still working on the Anita's Arrowhead blocks and now have twelve blocks done.

Hopefully you got a lot done this weekend too (quilty or holiday-wise)!

P.S....ATTENTION JUDY LAQUIDARA/PATCHWORK TIMES FANS!!

If you are a big fan of Judy Laquidara over at the Patchwork Times blog, know that she is currently taking pre-orders for her new book, "60 Pieced Quilt Borders – Mix & Match" to be released in mid January by AQS Publishing. You can read about it on her post here or put in your pre-order here. I've already ordered mine!

Back In the Saddle Again.....

2011-12-07T23:00:00.003-05:00

I took a much longer break than I expected to after the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course, this puts me behind again but as always it's about doing what you can and moving on and eventually you get where you need to go.

As of today, Month 9 of the Civil War Chronicles BOM is now done.

This is the last of the months that call for only four blocks. Months ten and eleven both need eight blocks each. And after reading another blog, Mary's at Hill Country Quilter, who is also doing this BOM, it looks like the last month will be the border blocks -- a whopping SIXTY-EIGHT BLOCKS!! I'm sure they are small but, whew! It is going to be a challenge to get them finished either before we leave to go down South for Christmas or by the end of the year (since if I need to, I can take my sewing machine to my MIL's house and also sew there). The last month's kit has not arrived yet so I'm just going to focus on finishing what is already here rather than worrying about what is coming!

I also started yet another new project (I know, I know): I am doing the Brown and Aqua version of "Anita's Arrowhead" that appeared in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue of Quiltmaker magazine. I got the kit on sale at the new kit discount site QuiltKits.com which sells closeouts of Keepsake Quilting, Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, McCalls Quilting and Quiltmaker Magazine kits.

These are the blocks I have so far. I wanted a Christmas couch quilt and the colors (christmas colors + brown) are perfect for our couch. As always, I thought it would be a quickie but now I am not so sure since the seams are all pressed open for the blocks which is harder to line up the intersections (and these blocks have many) than when you can press opposing seams to one side. I'm hoping I can get a few done each day and wrap this up over the next week or so.

My biggest disappointment over the last few weeks is that I didn't make the Thanksgiving week deadline for the BASICS December quilt drive. Which is sad since I already had a top ready, all it needed was to be quilted. I've been procrastinating really bad about quilting my tops and now have so many projects just needing that last step. But I plan to address that issue shortly. On the other hand, I've now made a promise to myself to make two quilts to donate for their final 200 quilt drive.

I've got a class trip with DS2's middle school eighth grade tomorrow. We are going to the new CSI exhibit at the Discovery Museum in Times Square. I hope I won't be too worn out to sew when I get back. Have a good evening because I'm off to bed!

Another Finished Top

2011-11-11T16:25:00.001-05:00

In my last post I showed the start of "Safari Stars":

When I originally worked on this design back in 2007, I had scanned all my fabrics into Quilt-Pro and it had been designed to be finished with an outer border of the fabric on the left and a solid black inner border. But I always felt that the design still "needed something".

Then I pulled out the fabric on the right and it immediately resonated with me. I had used this fabric as the color inspiration for another project many years ago and made a prairie point border with it (see the "Focus Fabric Feathered Star" in this post). I felt like the new fabric pulled out the center purple and rust stars better and the whole top melded together. I also now felt that the inner border needed to be a print and went through my stash until I found the black and white fabric on the table. But I still felt the corners needed work. So I pulled out another fabric purchased at the New Jersey Quilt Fest show in 2009 (which you can see a peek of in the lower left corner of the picture above):

I liked this new addition and with it, the right side fabric definitely won out for the final design. So yesterday I added the additions, appliqueing them on with a wavy edge, an idea I got from the borders displayed on the last quilt pictured in this blog post by Liz about her new Australian Modern Quilt Guild. Here is the design after the center blocks were all sewn together and I did a final audition of the borders:

And today I have a finished top:

I already have backing fabrics and am trying to now decide on how to quilt it. I am thinking of adding prominently stitched "Andinkra Symbols" in some of the open blocks instead of doing the embellishments I had considered before. With one more flimise on the "to be quilted" pile, I think I've reached my tipping point and will be forced to face my fears and rev up my free motion foot!

Another New Project

2011-11-07T14:37:00.000-05:00

When I originally drafted this post, it was to contain the details for a new project - a Halloween quilt. Technically it is two - my plan was to do two designs from Blackbird Designs that would be on each side of the quilt making it reversible. The patterns are Hallowe'en 1904 and Midnight Silhouette.

I had purchased the fabrics in the early part of the summer and thought it would be just a matter of clearing the decks to get this project done for the Halloween holiday. Work was supposed to start during the summer with the plan to spend September doing the quilting and have it on the bed promptly for the start of October. But when September started without the quilt under way, I thought I'd settle for it to make it on the bed by Halloween. I was even encouraged to see that Sinta of the Pink Pincushion blog was also doing Midnight Silhouette and I'd get to have the fun of sewing a project and watching someone else's progress on the same project.

Well needless to say with all that build up you know what is coming. When the last week of October hit and I was still pushing to finish the Dresdens, I knew it was inevitable. When the Dresden top wasn't completed by the day before Halloween as hoped, I knew my last ditch plan to spend Halloween week at least starting this project was now history. So what I was ultimately trying to avoid happened: like the Valor quilt, this one won't see its holiday until next year.

So with that, what am I working on? This quilt in progress:

New Project on the Design Wall

This is a project called Safari Stars. It is based on the pattern by Sue Harvey that was once on the Quilter's World Magazine website (but there is no longer a link there now for it) and has been on the HSY (haven't started yet) list since 2007. I've always had big plans for this as a quilt for display and had a specific spot picked out for it at our old apartment. In our new home, I have a display space opposite my living room where I currently have my basket quilt hung but wanted this quilt to become the semi-permanent display for this area. I also believe that when I have other quilts I want to display in the future in this general area , this quilt will meld with those better than the basket quilt does. I am hoping this one will be quick work although I am looking forward to challenging myself by adding embellishments on it too. What kind? Don't know that yet and while I have some ideas about what I'd like to do, I am also going to see where this one takes me. What I do hope is that it will be up on the wall before my family comes for Thanksgiving. Of course now that I've said that, I hope I haven't put the "Next Year Curse" on it!

On A Roll!

2011-11-04T19:28:00.000-04:00

Hot off the Dresden finish, the Chronicles Month 8 blocks are done! In one day no yet, a new record!

But there will be no resting on my laurels: I still have two more months of blocks in house to work on and the Month 11 packet should come in the mail sometime in the next two weeks. Then there is an new challenge: to quilt the pile of flimsies now sitting on the cutting table:

I also have two other projects I want to try to tackle but we'll have to see if I can get those started. Enjoy your weekend!!!

Bloggers Quilt Festival Is Here!

2011-11-03T18:58:00.001-04:00

It's here, it's here, the best week of the year!

The Fall Bloggers Quilt Festival is in full swing at Amy's Creative Side. Click on the link below or on the side bar and enjoy a parade of wonderful quilts!

I don't have anything in the festival this time but I will be drooling over all the lovely things everyone else is showing and picking up new blogs to follow. So get right over there and enjoy the virtual show!

Merrimac Dresdens & Chronicles Update!

2011-11-03T18:20:00.001-04:00

I have great news to report: the Merrimac Dresdens top is finally complete!!!!

Block detail

I have to admit, this project became an obsession in the past few weeks. It got to the point that I was not going to be satisfied until this top was completed and I had to really focus to get it done. I am so glad this one is now in the flimsie pile. I already have the backing fabric (see pic below) and have picked out the quilt stitch designs for it and look forward to getting it quilted soon.

Added to that I got two more months of the Chronicles BOM done since my last report. Two weekends ago when I thought I'd be finishing up the Dresden project, I made plans to work on the Month 6 Chronicles blocks. Once the Dresdens were all "plated" and moving on to the blanket stitching and sashing, my cutting table was empty for a moment and I realized that it was a good time to cut the pieces for the next (for me) month of Chronciles. This month only called for four blocks and for once didn't require a bazillion HSTs. I cut the pieces out on a Sunday and they were completely sewn up by Tuesday, the fastest turnaround I've had so far for this BOM.

I love these blocks! I love the cheddar fabric in them and am trying to source some more since I've long wanted to build a stash of repro cheddars. But I also love the way these blocks look together. I don't normally go for quilts that are made up of one (repeated) block. But this one creates so much interest with just the one block that I feel like you would get a lot of "Bang for the Buck" with it. The secondary patterns and visual lines created really excite me. So I am already thinking that I might make these again and create my second "one block" quilt (my first was Eleanor Burn's Quilt In A Day Bit's and Pieces Irish Chain quilt that you can see here).

After I had two rows of the Dresdens sashed and felt I was finally moving into the home stretch, I began to think about what was still to be done for the next few Chronicles months. Month's 7 - 10 were already in house and Month 11 is expected sometime this month. I figured if I could make one month's blocks in each week of November I'd be completely up to date by the start of December and then would only have to wait for the last month's packet to come in to finish the top.

For the Month 7 packet I was back to needing a bazillion HSTs but the blocks were almost completely made up of them so I figured if I could print out, layer and sew up triangle sheets it would mean getting to the block sewing that much faster. I sewed the sheets up in between sewing the blanket stitching and sashing on the Dresden block rows and cut enough of them apart to make up the first block on the Sunday before Halloween. Then over next two days I cut the rest of the triangles apart and made the last three blocks.

I realize that this block is larger version of the "Chisolm Trail" block I did for the Quilt In A Day "Pioneer Sampler":

So for the first time this year, I feel like I am on track. However there is still a lot of other stuff to be done: a stack of flimsies to quilt, another new project to start, an old WIP I plan to get back to next week and of course the next month of Chronicles. There's never a dull moment around here!

Nose To The Grindstone Finally Paying Off

2011-10-20T08:52:00.000-04:00

Good news! The Merrimac Dresden blocks are almost finished!

After working on the Crumb Houses last week, I went back to these Dresden blocks figuring I'd have the top done by the time this week's Tuesday Crumb Along rolled around and could return the focus to the houses. But for some reason I was dragging, not speeding along on these. Sunday my husband and sons went to the NY Comic Con and I thought I'd have a Quilt-A-Thon day to myself.

Instead I only got a few blocks done to finish the third row (but did get a lot of rest otherwise). I really want to get this top done now because in addition to the new Crumb project (and finishing the quilting on the old one), I have a Halloween quilt project that was supposed to have been started already! Not wanting to add even more flip flopping between projects, I decided to focus on getting this one done before moving on (or back) to other projects.

The opening picture showed the four rows I have of the five to be done. On the machine is one block towards the fifth row. Funny thing about that: After completing three rows on Sunday, I went to set up the last two rows of blocks. I was running low on Dresden blades and needed to know if I needed to cut more. For some reason at that point, I thought I was short one background. And of course, I didn't have enough of that particular background fabric left to make a block. I did have enough of another background but it had to be pieced together. Then to have enough blades to fill all the blocks, I had to do some "Poverty Patching" of what was left of my blade fabrics. When I was done I had this:

I worked on the blocks again and when I finished the fourth row yesterday and put the blocks up on the design wall, I found that I had an extra block! I don't know how that happened and now the pieced block and blades may be going on the back as a label.

There is still a lot to do: finish the last row of blocks, blanket stitch them to their backgrounds, sew circles over the centers of the plates, border each of the blocks, put the center of the top together and then piece the outer border. O.k. just listing all that tells me this top is not so close to being finished after all. But as Michele of the "Distracted Quilter" blog so perfectly expressed in a recent post (in both text and video), you have to keep taking steps (no matter how small) toward your goal if you want to reach it. So I will put my focus on the process and not the end because I already know the answer to the question "Are We There Yet?"!

Continuing To Catch Up

2011-10-12T19:25:00.001-04:00

The other week I was so pleased to get the "Chronicles" Month Four blocks done and I am glad to report that Month Five is done too. Once again, triangle sheets became HSTs....

Then additional triangles had to be cut to finish the blocks. I was little short on one of the fabrics so needed to make a few "poverty patches" to have enough of them.

And with those, I finished all sixteen corner blocks!

I finished them two Saturdays ago and just in time: Month 9 arrived in the mail the same day. Yes, I am still way behind but at least I'm also still moving up the ladder!

When they were finished, my plan was to take a short break from "Chronicles" to work on two other projects (like many I suffer from Quilter's ADD). The first was that I started piecing some house blocks for Jo's Crumb Quilt Along. What's been done to date was reported on here.

The second was to clear the last "new start" on the table: I've gone back to work on my "Merrimac Dresdens" blocks. This one is important to me for two reasons: it is the third in the series of Civil War fabric quilts I've worked on this year and a Dresden Plate quilt is one of my "Bucket List" quilts.

Right now I've got one row done and hope to finish the remaining three rows by the end of the week and add the borders for a completed top this weekend. Yes, I know the usual ambitions, but will it get done? We'll see! One things for sure: as always there's alot going on in the city that never sleeps!

Crumbling More Houses!

2011-10-11T16:48:00.000-04:00

Having finally got on board the Crumb Along, I was able to add another house block today to the ones I started making this weekend:

You can read about my plans for these and how I got them started in my last post.

When Jo announced the Crumb along I hadn't realized was that she was planning to do tutorials for specific (liberated) block units made of crumbs (like flying geese and stars). Today's log cabin blocks go right along with what I am doing with my houses so I hope in the coming days to make a few of those as well as some of the other units too. While these were not originally in my house quilt plans, I am now thinking about how I can use them as border or sashing blocks or fodder for the back or label. If all else fails, they can become orphan units for another quilt. We'll see what develops!

Crumbling Along!

2011-10-09T19:48:00.001-04:00

Jo of Jo's Country Junction blog is hosting a Crumb Along that started in September and is running for thirteen weeks. She finished a crumb quilt for her daughter back in July and a lot of people expressed interest in the process. "Crumb blocks" are another scrap quilt concept promoted by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. This quilt along is right up my alley for two reasons: First of all, after all the sewing this spring and summer, I had this on my sewing table:

I knew that these would wind up as crumbs and as luck would have it an idea for a project had come along right as the pile was growing. So I've turned mine into these:

*** Warning Long Post About Process Ahead ***

I had a couple of inspirations for this. The first was from Victoria of the Bumble Beans Inc. blog. She had a quilt exhibit from the end of April to the end of May which I managed to catch on the last day. One of the quilts she displayed there was her famous "Kitchen Sink" quilt. I love that quilt and seeing it up close and personal, I loved the house block made with "crumb fabric" (see it in the top center) and knew I wanted to do that one day.

I was further inspired by "The House That Kaffe Built" pattern by Kathryn Patterson that appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of McCall's Quilting. The way the Kaffe Fassette fabrics displayed in the blocks reminded me of Victoria's block and I decided right then that I'd make the McCall's quilt but with "Crumb Fabric" (my Kaffe stash is already slated for other projects)!

After Jo announced intentions for the "Crumb Along", I started doing leader/ender pieces of crumbs while working on other projects with the plan to make a big piece of crumb "fabric" first and then cut the house parts from that. But I found that to be too slow/unfocused for me. Then recently, I was led from another blog to a blog post by Julia of the "Julia's Place" where she talked about piecing the Kaffe House block by paper piecing it and offered to send a paper-pieced pattern for the block to anyone requesting it in the comments.

While waiting to get her pattern, I thought about how I was going to do the piecing and thought I would need to take parts of the pattern apart in order to piece the crumbs to the foundation. However, the same day there was a post on the "Sew We Quilt" blog (hosted by the famous Madame Samm) by guest host Elaine about paper piecing with freezer paper. LIGHTBULB MOMENT!! If I used Elaine's PP method, I could piece each crumb section until it was large enough to fit the part of the foundation I needed to cover, attach them to the solid pieces of the house AND I wouldn't even need to print more than one foundation block since with her method you don't sew ON the pattern (as you do in traditional paper piecing) but next to it.

But then a new issue arose: I read Julia's post and it said her pattern made a 5-1/2" x 6" block and I wanted bigger blocks. The first thought was to enlarge her pattern on the printer. However, when I went to search for the link to her blog, lo and behold I found another foundation pattern offered by Quilters Newsletter Magazine that made a larger 10-1/2" (school) house block which is even bigger than the 8-1/2" finished size of the original McCall's pattern.

The first block took me much longer to do than I expected because contrary to what I remembered reading in Elaine's instructions, I found I had to pull back the freezer paper to sew on each adjoining piece (Warning: Du'oh! moment ahead). Re-reading the instructions, I realized that I had been doing it wrong:

I was putting the “right side” of my “fabric” against the sticky side of the freezer paper which I had been doing in order for the finished block to face in the right direction per the foundation pattern.

After re-reading Elaine’s instructions and (only then) remembering how I have done paper piecing in the past, I realized that I should have been putting the “wrong side” of my “fabric” to the sticky side. However, when I went to do a second block, I realized a new problem -- doing so would mean that my house would face in the opposite direction (door on the right instead of the left) than in the pattern block. Looking again at the QNM foundations I realized that the foundations for the chimney, front door and side house sections are symmetrical and so can be pieced correctly as is but it must be kept in mind that the pieces in the finished block, when oriented in the direction I wanted, will be in the flipped position from where they were pieced: (i.e. for the house front section, the #2 piece will be on “top” of the door not on the “bottom” as pieced; in the house side section, the #5 piece will be to the left of the house not to the right as pieced). This is not a problem if you are making the blocks from one fabric like was done for the original quilt this was made for, but may be an issue if you are “creatively coloring” your house like I am.

What was still a problem was the roof section. Pieced as printed, it would have still been backwards from the rest of the units. The solution: I was able to scan a printed copy of the roof foundation page into my printer and using the scanner software, “horizontally flip” the page and send it to my printer to print “backwards”. Now when I put the pattern together and piece that section of the house it all goes well and as fast as expected.

My second reason for wanting to do this quilt along is that I am not new to crumb quilting. At the end of last year, I had finished the top of my first crumb project called "Paisley Park is Full of Crumbs" (which you can read about here). I had started the quilting of it for a 2010 Year End UFO challenge but didn't get it finished in time. It was also on my PHD Challenge list at the start of 2011 but between moving and the new projects I started, continuing that work got pushed to the side. So in the interest of getting another Crumb finish as well as a PHD finish completed, I will also be working on finishing the quilting of this project too.

Updates and A Quilt Contest Entry

2011-09-30T13:02:00.001-04:00

The design boards are empty....

...because the Month Four Chronicles blocks are done! Woo Hoo!

Next up is prepping the Month Five triangle sheets.

There are sixteen blocks to do but they are corner blocks (a pieced triangle like half of a triangle square). By the time I am done with this quilt (and the more blocks I do, the more I realize that this one is going to be a real beauty!!), I will be sooo over making quilts with a lot of HSTs!

I am hoping to get the Month Five blocks done either today or definitely by the end of the weekend because I need to continue clearing the cutting table by getting back to working on the Merrimac blocks and top (talked about here). Then when that's done it's on to starting the Blackbird Designs Halloween quilt (that I'd like to get done by the end of October, of course) and possibly getting my sons back to piecing strips for their (winter) "Denim Blue Lagoon" quilts.

Big News! I am Entered In a Contest!

I've entered my "Flying For Cover" quilt in this week's Quilting Gallery Weekly Theme Quilt Contest. The theme for this week is "Flying Geese Quilts". I've wanted to enter one of their contests for a long time but never had a quilt for the current theme ready. Here's the quilt I entered:

If you'd like to vote for the quilt (or any of the others posted on the site) you can do so here from today until Sunday. If you want to know more about the quilt, click back to this post.

One thing I realized is that this is one of two finished quilts that I have not put a label on! I had designed a rather elaborate one back when I finished the quilt but it is text and picture heavy and needs to be printed on prepared fabric sheets and then hand sewn onto the back of the quilt. At the time I had too many other projects going to want to focus on that and thought I still had details of the label design to work out. But I took a look at my files and realize that it's all ready to go so I better prepare some fabric with Bubble Jet Set and get 'er done! This is why I prefer piecing the label or a blank piece of fabric into the back of the quilt. When I do that I can write the label information in as soon as the quilting is done. In the case of the two quilts without labels, both need to have their labels attached after the fact. But label I must, no anonymous quilts for me!

Have a good weekend!

End of Summer Update?! It's Almost Fall!

2011-09-16T11:56:00.007-04:00

I am so glad to FINALLY get this post out! I just read on someone's blog that the first day of Fall is next week!! I can't believe the time has gone so fast. Note to self: post things as they get done, don't wait to accumulate a few before posting. That said, on with our show.

Well, the summer was busier than expected with a lot going on and things moving along but never as much accomplished by (self-imposed) deadlines as hoped. But in the end, little by little, it all gets done. At least that's what I keep telling myself to keep sane! So what's been going on since last we met?

The "Valor" top (talked about in my last post) got finished during the third week of July. And hopefully it will get quilted and bound by the end of the year and will be available for display for next years Memorial Day or Fourth of July holiday.

The next week was our long planned camping trip to Evangola State Park on Lake Erie and Niagara Falls.


There was a beach.

And a Pirates Festival...

...where they dug for buried treasure on the beach (and other fun activities).

Our campsite.

And of course the Falls!

Back from the trip, I spent the month of August focused on starting and finishing the blocks for Bonnie Hunter's "Floribunda" quilt-a-long. This one was fun! I was attracted to the funky retro look of the original quilt Bonnie had found at an antique store in Florida.


Starting the blocks with Lori Holt's (Bee In My Bonnet) Mini Design Boards (click the link to go to her tutorial on how to make them). Mine still need the pretty borders added.

When I purchased the yellows for the project, I also looked for a few fat quarters that I thought channeled that retro feel or just looked good with the yellows and would add to what I could find in stash. I didn't plan to only use florals in it but after re-reading one of her blog posts and realizing that all of the fat quarters I had purchased were in fact florals, I decided to continue with that theme and was surprised to find I had a lot of more of them in stash than I thought. Particularly useful was a bag of fabric samples I bought years ago from an Ebay vendor which gave me a lot of vintage looking floral prints.

Instructions from Bonnie's site, finished blocks and binding fabric already purchased.

In September, after the kids were back in school, I was able to put the blocks together into a top, create a pieced back (the center calico was also from stash, woo hoo!) and now another finished flimsy is in the can.

Finished Top

Finished Back

After that it was all about getting back to catching up on the Civil War Chronicles BOM. Yesterday, I finished the three blocks I had remaining to do for Month Three (top right and bottom corners).

Now the challenge is to stay on schedule and bring the rest of the months I have in house (Months Four - Eight) up to date. One of my UFO goals for the year is to complete any BOMs signed up for this year by the end of the year. Since the last of these blocks will come in December, I want to be ready to at least complete the top or even better, layer and quilt it by year's end.

Also on the agenda is to finish the "Merrimac Dresdens" blocks (also talked about in my last post) that I also started this summer (you can see the first one to the right of the "Chronicles" blocks). I think those will probably wait until next week while I try to get at least one more month of "Chronicles" done this weekend.

Hope your Fall is shaping up to be a productive one!

Busy Week

2011-07-10T00:50:00.002-04:00

With school out there is no more volunteer work although I still have to supervise my younger son to get his summer work packets done. DH went back to work this week after being on vacation, so I decided that it was time for a quilt-a-thon!

When last I left off, I had just finished layering the UGRR/Pioneer Samplers.

And that's where they still stand. Part of the reason I think I didn't make the PHD Challenge deadline was because I was debating about how to quilt these. I really wanted to hand quilt them and was thinking about doing an all over Baptist Fan. I've since found some confirmation of that plan but still need a little time to think about if I am sure it's really the way I want to go. So while waiting, I also worked on these:

The four Month 2 blocks for the Civil War Chronicles BOM are finally done. (The little Lemoyne Star in the picture was a test block for something I'll talk about later in this post). And thank god for triangle paper (printed with Quilt-Pro's Triangle Magic software). It turned four pages of this:

into this:

Note: You can also do this with Brenda Henning's Trianglulations Software.

Next up was a new project (I know, I know, I'm supposed to be focusing on UFOs and BOMs): Pat Sloan's Valor quilt using her new Tribute line of fabric for P&B Textiles.

I saw the fabric in the Spring 2011 Fabric Trends issue and really liked it and wanted to make a quilt for display for the July Fourth holiday. Unfortunately I started in on it too late for this year but expect to get the top done over the next week and it'll be up and ready for next year!

This is the first time I've done Lemoyne Stars and of course being the quilt gadget lover that I am, I couldn't resist a new tool to eliminate those set in "Y" seams. While reading blogs, I happened to come across mention of this:

It's by Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design. You may know her from the "Rapid Fire Hunter Star Ruler" she also makes (and which I also have but admit I haven't used yet). The ruler made the eight inch stars for the Valor quilt as well as the four inch star that was pictured with the Chronciles blocks. I also have a reproduction design project I hope to do some time this summer where I will get to use this again. The "rapid fire" in this is that the diamonds and the backgrounds are cut from strip pieced strips and then subcut and sewn to create four square units (with two diamonds each) that get sewn into the final block. You can see it demonstrated here and here.

And finally one from the HSY (Haven't Started Yet) list -- I did all this cutting:

for this project: It was a Marcus Bros. free pattern (pictured on the left) back in 2008 for their "Merrimac" fabric line.

I loved the Civil War repro fabrics in the line and the "Millwheel" block reminded me of Dresden Plates which are a "bucket list" block for me. So I decided to do the pattern but change the Millwheels to Dresdens. Then I couldn't decide whether to do rounded or pointed blades. But I saw "John Flynn's Dresdens" in the February 2006 issue of Quilter's World Magazine where he did plates with mixed blades and I knew I had my solution. I am doing mine with alternating blades (like the sample block in the picture) and plan to blanket stitch the blades to the backgrounds.

Whew! That was a lot of dedicated work and although there are still no finishes here, I feel like I got a lot of "To Do" things off my mind. I'm trying to to sew a little each day this summer in an attempt to make that an ongoing habit.

Missed the Deadline

2011-07-01T02:33:00.000-04:00

Despite making a lot of progress on the UGRR/Pioneer project over the last few days I was unable to get this completed by the PHD Challenge deadline. I am not totally disappointed since I know that without the pressure of the Challenge deadline, I probably would have never gotten this project even this far.

As it stands now, the two tops are layered, having added borders to the centers and even adding some monogramming to the Pioneer top.

I'd still like to get this done before summer's end but also have the three other Civil War fabric projects that I want to work on, a quilt I want to make to display for the Fourth of July (at this point crazy, I know) and I got the yellow solids I wanted for Bonnie Hunter's latest quilt-a-long. But now I can relax a bit and try to work at my own pace while still pushing myself to stay on task.

Progress!

2011-06-15T07:11:00.000-04:00

As of yesterday, the centers are done.

Text blocks were prepared on tea dyed muslin, treated with Bubble Jet Set and printed through my printer. The Pioneer information came from book, newspaper and internet sources. The UGRR text was in the pattern book.

Next stop borders and layering.

The Civil War Series Has Begun

2011-06-03T21:23:00.000-04:00

I finally got the Underground Railroad & Pioneer Samplers up on the design wall to begin my long awaited series of Civil War fabric quilts. I really need to get this particular project done because I would like to get a finish in for Myra's PHD Challenge which ends this month.


Once again apologies for the poor picture; late day shot on a "needs to be upgraded" cell phone!

The plan has always been to put these back to back. Up to now I thought I'd quilt them back to back but recently I realized it might be better to quilt them separately (backed with muslin) and then layer them back to back for the final binding and hanging sleeve. Another debate is whether to hand quilt them or not -- we'll see if time permits (probably not).

If you are looking at these and wondering "how is she going to put them back to back - they don't have the same number of blocks?", know that I will be adding one text block to the UGRR set on the left explaining the the symbolism of the blocks used and two two-block text boxes (or maybe one four block box) to the Pioneer set on the right explaining some of the history of the Pioneer movement. The making of the blocks was covered in this series of posts.

But the title of this post is Civil War Series so that means there must be other things that are also going to be going on. I have another Civil War fabric project I hope to get started using Marcus Bros. "Merrimack" fabric line from three (!) years ago (didn't realize this one's been "simmering" that long!). There was a free pattern on their website at the time that used the fabrics to make circular pie wedge blocks but I am doing mine as dresden plates with both pointed and rounded blades. Fortunately, this has no deadline so I can work on it when time permits.

I had also signed up this year for the Civil War Chronicles BOM that started in January so I am hoping to play catch up over the next two months and bring that one up to date. Then finally with all the fabric leftovers from these three projects, I hope to use them to catch up with and follow along with Barbara Brackman's Civil War BOW project.

To make my immersion complete, I am also reading books and watching shows about the Civil War period. I had downloaded Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to my e-reader a few months ago (when I thought I would start this project) but got diverted by another book so now am going back to finish it. This week I also downloaded "The Red Badge of Courage" and hope to get "The Boy's War" from the library. This week is also "Civil War Week" on the History Channel and I just watched their "Lee and Grant" documentary today and have the one on "Gettysburg" also on the DVR. Also on the e-reader are two of Jennifer Chiavarini's fiction books that take place during this period: "The Sugar Camp Quilt" and "The Union Quilters" (having already read "The Runaway Quilt" previously).

I am thinking that when this is done, perhaps a formal visit to Grant's Tomb here in New York City might be a fitting finale. I have been to it before but only for the exterior views. I will be interested to see if given the anniversary of the Civil War this year, if there are also interesting exhibits on display there.

Top Finished!

2011-05-31T08:06:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend and took the time to give thanks to and honor our troops past and present.

After a long(er than anticipated) and torturous journey, the Aunt Grace "Circle of Friends" BOM top is finished!

Note: the top is laid out on my bed sideways to get a better shot of it.

Actually the only real torture was the fact that I constantly butted heads with my own finishing deadlines and expectations. I actually enjoyed working on this one, especially the applique, something I see myself doing more of in the future.

One change I made to the pattern: in the cornerstones of the pinwheel border, there are fussy cut square-in-a-square blocks that are supposed to use this fabric:

I was surprised that given the name of the project, this fabric only featured the little blond Gracies. Years ago, I can remember there being an Aunt Grace line of prints that had a different little girl with different names on each print (and might have been called "Aunt Grace & Friends" -- does anyone else remember these fabrics?) . Although I came late to the 30's repro party, at the time I was able to score the "Annie" fabric and it has been in my stash for years and now I finally get to use it. I decided to take some of my fabric markers and make my "Circle of Friends" a little more diverse. So here is how the girls are featured in my blocks:

I already have the backing fabric for this one (the white with yellow flowers print at the top right in the picture of the top) and have started to think about how I want to quilt it. But I don't know how soon I'll get to that since I really need to start on my Civil War projects and try to get something done for Myra's PHD Challenge which finishes up this month.

I've searched the web and am surprised to find very few other people doing this BOM project (or at least posting about it) even though there a large number of online stores offering the program. And it must not have sold well because I've also found at least two sites selling the complete kit at a fairly big discount.

So now onto the Civil War!!

What's Going On?

2011-05-15T23:03:00.001-04:00

Had hoped I would have gotten so much more done by now but I have been really getting distracted by....well everything! Trying to get the house in order, trying to return to normal routines, volunteering, sewing, surfing the web, whew! So what's going on right now...

Once again, apologies for the picture quality -- still taking pictures with my (old) cell phone because I still haven't found my camera charger cord!

I am still plugging away at the Aunt Grace project. The good news is that the last block (and a biggie), the center block is now done! This one had to be appliqued and I decided to brush up on the hand applique I had learned at the end of last year. The center Dresdens were stitched together and the tops were "back basted" by machine and then stitched by hand. The border "stubby" Dresdens were prepped using the starch method which made them easy to then stitch. I was hoping to get the the top completed by weekend's end so that I could (finally) start on all the Civil War projects I have in the pipeline. I've cut out some of the finishing elements but it looks like this one will go into another week. I'm not going to fight it any more, that's just the way it'll have to be.

Now for some housekeeping:

This just in!

The new Sarah Fielke (formerly of Material Obsessions and now a solo author) book just arrived from the U.K. yesterday! I saw this one on a blog tour and was intrigued by some of the quilts in it. The book was released in Europe May 1 but won't be released in the U.S. until August. It can be had now from this distributor with free world-wide shipping. Note: Cutting and quilt measurements in the book are in metric AND imperial.

Sandy on a recent post on her "Quilting For The Rest of Us" blog and in her recent podcast asked everyone to update her on the quilty resolutions we made at the start of the year. I had posted my goals there but have to admit almost mid way into the year I've not gotten far. Here's my recap:

No UFOs for 2011. So far not so good. I signed up for Myra's PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge but haven't gotten one thing done due to the move! I had pledged six and still hope to try to get three done before the June deadline (and the Civil War pipeline should yield one of them).
No new UFOs for 2011. Considering that I am still pushing to get the Aunt Grace project done this might happen. At this point it's my only new project started so, so far so good.
Empty existing (haven't started yet) project bins. Having moved, this is now one bin and a couple of cabinets. Haven't pulled anything out of either of them yet though.
Shop the stash, no new project purchases for 2011. Crashed and burned shortly after moving. The new place has yielded new ideas for projects and I couldn't resist investing in a few. So shoot me.
Keep up to date on all BOMs. Again, Aunt Grace contributes to this and if I can get started on the CW stuff there's a contribution to that (Civil War Chronicles) there too. So I am sort of on track for this one.
Gain confidence on choosing stitch patterns for quilting. So far I haven't quilted anything this year yet so the jury is still out on this.

ATTENTION QUILTERS!!!!!

(and anyone who loves gorgeous quilts)

The Bloggers Quilt Festival started Friday! I can't wait to go look but it looks like I, once again, won't get to contribute. But it's way more fun to look anyway. You can get there by clicking the link above. So go take a look! Go, right now and have fun!!

Quilty Plans For The Merry Month of May

2011-05-04T13:59:00.003-04:00

There's been a lot of work going on at the machine lately and I have a long list of things I want to try to get done in May. This is my design wall as of today:

The picture is not great because it's from my cell phone (and I've got a really old phone). I've been meaning to post this for awhile but I can't find my camera charger cord and the last time I turned it on, the camera battery was real low.

But back to the quilting. So the big project getting the most attention right now is the one on the bottom right. Those are my "Aunt Grace Circle of Friends BOM" blocks. I started receiving the monthly packets back in October and had planned on starting them in January but then the move was announced. I received the last of the packets in April and had planned to start work on them during the break of the last two weeks. Instead, I wound up starting them late in the second week with the hope of completing the blocks before May 1. Didn't happen but there are only six block sets and the last month is the finishing kit (borders and cornerstone blocks). The blocks have been pretty easy to do so I am powering through in the hopes of getting the top done by either the end of this week or next week at the latest with the layering and quilting schedule to be determined later.

To the left of those are the blocks from my "Striped Squares" project. This is an old, old UFO that is on my PHD Challenge list. I made a few more blocks recently and really feel I'd like to get this one done before the challenge ends in June plus I have a spot in our new home where I'd like to put the finished quilt. Originally they were going to be straight set but up on the design wall they weren't sparking me (although I DO need to make more blocks). Setting them on point energized it a bit for me so for now that's how they will display until I can take this further.

At the top of the wall are my Blue & White "Many Paths" blocks. Also slow progress on this one. The third block (on the right) is the one most recently made. This project was also on my PHD Challenge list but I've decided at this point I'll be happy if I just get all the blocks (there are 12) made up. This was originally planned to be hung on a quilt rack that I had in the living room of our old apartment. But I won't be using that rack here so this project is less urgent now. I am also thinking about getting real creative with the layout of the top but don't have the mental focus for that right now.

Speaking of the PHD Challenge, back in December (before I knew I'd be moving in a few months) I had committed to completing six projects. Well the challenge ends in June so I know that won't happen! I am still shooting for three and hoping that I'll finish at least one. Once I'm finished with "Aunt Grace" I'll be adding two other projects to the wall: I want to try to finish my "Quilt In A Day Underground Railroad/Pioneer Sampler" project and start the blocks for the "Civil War Chronicles" BOM I signed up for last fall and that began mailing in January. In fact, the plan was for the real focus for May to be on all my CW fabric projects in honor of the war's anniversary. The UGRR/Pioneer project is also on the PHD list so it would be great to get that done. One of my other goals for 2011 was to finish all the BOMs I had by the end of the year and "Chronicles" would be the second of three that I now have on hand. I also have one other CW "kit" that I'd like to make and I hope that I might do the history blocks Barbara Brackman is currently offering each week using the leftovers and scraps from all the other CW projects.

As always probably too ambitious for my own good but I've got to lay it all out to know and remind myself where I am trying to go. Let's hope I can keep quilting daily. If I meet even half my goals I will be ahead of the game!

Just One Block Update

2011-04-23T20:10:00.000-04:00

After my last post, I was making an entry in my quilt journal about the blocks I made for Moda's "Just One Star" campaign. To fill in some information, I took another look at the information sheet and instructions I had printed out when I first looked at it.

First of all, the finished quilts will be going to the Semper Fi Fund not the Quilts of Valor organization as I stated previously. The Semper Fi Fund provides assitance to returning injured Marines and their families and according to the Moda information sheet, is a favored charity of the designers Minick & Simpson.

The second thing I noted is that although the instructions for the block construction called for a "light tone-on tone background", the introduction for the cause specified that the backgrounds should be cream. Ackkk! I had made two stars with cream backgrounds but the rest were white, light blue and light yellow. No biggie, I got up this morning and whipped out three more stars, one using a striped fabric that I hadn't used initially because I wasn't sure it would translate well in the star design.

The finished stars for mailing

As suspected, I didn't like the striped one (for this) so of the stars pictured, just the four in a row were signed and mailed off this afternoon to Texas. Whew! Glad I caught that and could still make the deadline. On the plus side, the remaining stars could be the start of a Quilt of Valor top of my own (fingers crossed).

If you are a quick sew, there is still time to get one in the mail if you'd like to help too.

We Now Return You To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming.....

2011-04-22T20:34:00.002-04:00

Well it took a whole lot longer than I'd planned but I've finally got back to my machine! We moved into our new place at the end of February. We've been here almost two months now but there are still many boxes filled with stuff still to be unpacked and furniture and fixtures still to buy or install. It will be a while and fortunately there is no rush.

But my quilting space has been set up. When we moved in it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

I am in the front part of our Dining room although my husband's take is that the rest of the family is just renting the Dining room from the quilt space! I have a bit more space than the half bedroom I used before but I've definitely got to get back to my UFO pledge for this year -- I've got more stuff than I have space for (imagine that!) so the plan remains to prioritize working on things in house to pare down and make more room for everything.

But to do that, the first challenge is to get back in the groove which has also been harder than expected. Even after I had set up my machine and got most of the basics unpacked, I just couldn't sit down and get started. So I did what I always do in this situation:

I read my quilt books and journals as I unpacked and shelved them and my magazines as they were forwarded to the new address (and updated my mailing information in the process).

I went to the American Folk Art Museum's Red & White Joanna Rose quilt exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory.....

...and while there bought another book and finally joined the museum as I have wanted to for a few years.

I caught up on two months of blog reading (over a 1100 posts!) and began making a new list of all the projects I needed to catch up on, ideas for things I want to make for display in the house and all the new projects I have been enticed by from all the blog reading.

But what has finally gotten me back to the machine is a charity request. It is an easy one, the Moda Fabrics call for "Just One Block" -- star blocks to be sent to be made into Quilt Of Valor quilts by the Moda staff. This is a good one for me. I've long wanted to do a QOV quilt and have a collection of Red, White & Blue fabrics but have never been able to get moving on it. I figured this was an easy start since I only needed to make the blocks, someone else will make the quilts!

Of course when I went to the R/W/B stash I had plenty for the stars but realized that I was short on suitable tone-on-tone lights that they wanted for the backgrounds. So I got to do that other tried and true Quilter's Block fix -- a trip to Hartsdale Fabrics, my LQS. Even after that, I still dragged my feet a bit until I re-read the instructions and saw that the blocks needed to get to them by May 1st.

So I had to get it in gear and 'er done! And they are:

Just have to add my name and state and mail them off!

Now let's just hope I can keep up that momentum. I'm still committed to getting something done for Myra's "PHD Challenge" which ends in June and would like to have something to post for Amy's upcoming "Bloggers Quilt Festival" in three weeks.

So to all celebrating, I wish you a Happy Passover, a Good Friday and Happy Easter! Enjoy your weekend!!

First post of 2011 and the last for January!

2011-01-30T19:26:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to get a quick post in before the month ends. Already this year has not gone quite as expected. When 2010 ended I was all set to focus on UFOs and signed up for Myra's PHD Challenge. My biggest quilty goal for this year was to work on all my accumulated UFOs and complete them.  If I did decide to start any new projects, they too would have to be completed before year-end.  As I noted in my PHD goals post, the reason for this was that I expected we might have the opportunity to move sometime later this year and having read about the issues (aka weight) involved when other bloggers had to move fabric/project stashes, I realized that the less I needed to move the better.

Well, later this year has turned into the start of this year! We live in a co-op and have had an application in for three years for a transfer to a townhouse unit. We found out last Fall that we had moved pretty high up on the list so assumed that it was just a matter of time before we'd be called about an available unit.  Instead of that happening by this summer or fall as we estimated, the call came the first week of January!! We have since viewed the unit, submitted the financial paperwork for the transfer approval and have had our current unit inspected. We were told we'd have the pre-closing information two weeks ago but January is rapidly ending and we are still waiting to get those numbers and schedule the closing and moving date.

The old saying that "a watched pot never boils" applies here. I have been on pins and needles waiting for the final arrangements to come through while simultaneously focusing (o.k., obsessing) over ideas for decorating (and watching A LOT of HGTV), shopping around for all the new furniture and appliances that we'll need to purchase for the move and gathering boxes for packing.  I have sewn a little here and there but the further along in the process we go, the more my mind is elsewhere.

One of my PHD projects was to complete the Blue & White "Many Paths" project I started a few years ago (pattern by Elisa Wilson of Backporch Designs). Tea of the TeaQuilts blog has been working on it as a block-of-the-week since November of last year and my plan was to play catch up. As you can see here, I've put together the parts for seven blocks:

And have assembled two more:

Right now I am one behind since I haven't yet made the block she posted for this past week and will be two behind when she posts the block for this week. With no guarantee when the closing info will come in, I realize I need to stop watching the pot and get back to my regularly scheduled programming. In addition, this past week I got an email that the cataloguing software came in at DS2's middle school library so I will be returning to daily volunteering this week as well.

So forgive me for being out of contact and know that it might be awhile before I check in again. Hopefully by then I'll either be reporting from the moving truck or in my new home!

Last Post of 2010

2010-12-31T21:05:00.000-05:00

It looks like the last finish for 2010 will be my Schnibble now called "Tribal Scratch":

It was finished on Wednesday. I thought I'd get to also quilt the last two quilts on deck but had no energy on Thursday (actually stayed up late to finish so was just too tired the next day to do anything). I am working on the Crumb quilt today but it doesn't look like it will be done by day's end. No matter, I'll probably spend the rest of the weekend and even early next week finishing them so they will not be hanging over my head as I move on to the PHD Challenge projects list.

Once again, wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year's. See you in 2011!!

Quilters Accountability 12/29/10

2010-12-29T18:41:00.001-05:00

The Final Push and the Last QA Post for 2010

Last Week's Goals:

~~Layer the Crumb quilt.~~ Done.
Quilt the Schnibble, Crumb and Brrrr! quilts. Started the Schnibble today.
Finish up the Sage Sampler blocks. Didn't touch 'em.
Get back to work on the DWR top. Nope.

It's a good thing I accomplished the things I did last week, because after setting up my machine to start this week's list, I broke my new sewing machine! I hit the plate converter with the needle (don't know how I did that) and it popped off, prompting a rush visit on Friday to the Nimble Thimble where I had purchased it so it could be sent out for service. I was lucky it happened at the end of last week because the store is closed all this week. Which was fine since I had promised DS2 that I would take him to purchase the skateboard he wanted for Christmas so we were able to "kill two birds with one stone" that day. Thank goodness I still have my old machine so I am not totally stranded.

So after maiming my machine, visiting relatives on Christmas Day and prepping for friends who were going to stop by on Monday, I think I expended the last of my Holiday energy. After DH and I shopped early Sunday in anticipation of either our guests or a forcasted snowstorm, I took the rest of the day to relax. By Sunday afternoon the blizzard came in, by that evening we had cancelled the plans with our friends and by Monday morning we had no more storm and twenty inches of snow blanketing the city! New York City rarely stops even for a snow storm so you know this was a big one when most of the public transporation was not running, the airports were closed and Mayor Bloomberg was exhorting everyone to stay home and take a Snow Day.

Picture Courtesy of the NY Daily News; 12/27/10 Article

So this is how my week started:

All the layered quilts: The Schnibble "Scratch" top is on top (layered the week before last), Brrr Park on the left (the last of the quilt tops made and layered in 2009) and the Crumb top which I finished layering on Tuesday. So I did not get to start quilting until today. However, "Scratch" is small and I've got about a quarter of it done already, so the quilting may get finished tonight and the "back-turned-to-the-front" binding tomorrow.

Goals for the Rest of the Week: I still have tomorrow and Friday to try to finish up the other two and make the list for Finn's Year-End Challenge. For Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday, I plan to participate in Pat Sloan's New Year's Eve/Day UFO Busting Party (details announced today on her blog). I am hoping to finish things for the YEC as well as get a start on some things for Myra's 2011 PHD Challenge that I signed up for (you can see what I've got on my list for that here). My goal for next year: NO UFO's!

Hoping you enjoyed your Christmas celebrations and are planning big things for New Year's Eve and Day. Hop on over to Bari's to see how everyone else finished up for this year. Here's to a productive 2011!

Quilters Accountability 12/22/10

2010-12-22T19:26:00.001-05:00

It was a productive week. As usual, not as much done as one would like but enough to feel real good about what did get done.

Last Week's Goals:

~~Do the quilting on the blue & white quilt and mail off both doll quilts.~~ Done!
~~Quilt the Tree Skirt (and decorate the tree purchased on Sunday!)~~ Done!
Layer the Schnibble and Crumb quilts and quilt them. Schnibble is layered, Crumb quilt's borders are on and quilting not done yet.
Start quilting the Brrr Park! quilt (already layered from last year). Nope.

So the doll quilts are finished and were mailed off to my Aunt Monday morning. I got a Christmas card/letter from her that afternoon saying she hadn't heard from me in a while. So now I am really looking forward to her getting the surprise package. It was sent Priority Mail so should reach her before the end of the week.

I finished the quilting and binding on the Tree Skirt on Sunday and decorated the tree on Monday. I was surprised that the skirt instructions did not include ties or a way to close the opening. But after laying it around the base of the tree I found out why -- the open ends overlap to surround the base so it doesn't need closures! Cool!

I layered the Schnibble quilt yesterday and had hoped to also get the Crumb block top done too so that I could just quilt the next three quilts one right after the other. But that required attaching the borders of the Crumb top. And part of the borders meant attaching the beaded barrel trim that is serving as the inner border. Sewing the trim on was a lot more difficult than I expected. I basted it to the top first which (note to self and any others planning on using decorative trims on your quilt tops) would have been much easier if I had planned for a wider outside edge seam rather than the standard 1/4". It took a lot of finessing to get it in place yesterday so I had to wait until today to attach the outer border which again, due to the narrow seam and the thickness of the trim, took some finessing to get on. But it is done and since it will be quilted simply (stitch in the ditch around the Crumb blocks and do some kind of decorative stitch in the sashing squares to give it a "tufted" look), I am hoping the layering will go fast tomorrow.

I also got a bonus project done on Friday:

This little runner was sewn up back in 2008 when I made the quilt blogged about here. It is one of three (in different styles) made from the leftover fabric from the quilt. It is a Karen Montgomery design that I picked up from the Timeless Treasures fabric company website when I made the quilt (and can be seen in full here but is no longer offered for free and can be purchased here). The fusible Hobbs batting used for the Gathering Garden quilt and the tree skirt had left me with just enough batting to layer this. This is another "pillow turn" project that I knew would be simple to quilt because the lines of the stripe provided all the quilting guidance I needed. Nothing fancy here, just stitching with smoke monofilament thread around each stripe border and between the little sawtooth star and brown solid square motifs in the center. I had considered also edge-stitching around the outermost edge until I realized that after stitching to the right of the red fabric of the stripe that circled the edge, it looked just like a traditional binding so with that faux finish, it was done! I am only considering this a bonus project (not a UFO finish) because I don't plan to sew up the other two until after the New Year.

This Week's Goals:

Layer the Crumb quilt.
Quilt the Schnibble, Crumb and Brrrr! quilts.
Finish up the Sage Sampler blocks.
Get back to work on the DWR top.

So go check in with Bari and see what everyone else has planned as we make the final descent to the end of the year.

Quilters Accountability 12/15/10

2010-12-15T20:16:00.002-05:00

FINALLY SOME FINISHES!!!

It has taken far longer than I had expected but I finally got some finishes on the board! When I pledged nine projects for Finn's Year-End Challenge in October, I did it thinking that the two doll quilts I have been struggling with for weeks -- no months -- would have been finished by the end of October at the latest. Now that they are finished I am hoping that momentum will kick in for the rest of the projects I want to do. Most of them just need quilting. I may not complete nine but I am still hopeful (with sixteen more days left?!?!) that I can get pretty close.

Last Week's Goals:

Finish the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt. Done!
Make the blue and white doll quilt top. Done!
Work steadily on the DWR top. O.k., did not get to this one.
Layer #2, the Christmas Tree skirt, the Schnibble top and the Crumb top for quilting. The first two are DONE, the other two - nope.

I am glad to say the Amish Doll quilt (now called "Amish Furrows and Flowers") finally, finally, FIN-AL-LY got finished. It is a little more than 18 inches square. The applique is still rough but I am happy with it.

Finished quilt before washing off the markings.

It took until almost near the end for me to get into “flow” on this one and have “momentum” finally kick in. What is flow and momentum you say? You can read about them here and here respectively but to put it simply, it’s the point in working on a project when the work just seems to happen and move smoothly and before you know it you’ve reached a milestone and STILL want to do more and keep working until you reach the end which you are now hungering for. I finished up the last of the stitching on Sunday night while watching “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” and then the season premiere of “Leverage”. On Monday, I decided that since this has been a mostly hand worked piece, I should finish it the same way. Usually I put my bindings on completely by machine but for this one I sewed it on with the machine (to help secure the hand quilted edges) and finished it by hand. Today I put it in with the laundry to wash out the markings.

And here it is with its "mother", the Trip Around The World quilt I made in 2006 (and blogged about here). It was the leftover pieced strips and fabrics from that project that provided the start for this little project. I've always said that I see my quilting as an "independent art study" and with this one done, I have finished the semester on "Hand Work" that started back in the summer with the Applique and Hand Quilting classes.

And here is the little blue & white quilt (now called "Gathering A Garden In a Twister" after the fabric line and block used). I ended up "pillow turning" the backing and doing a piped edge. I wanted to use the dark blue leafy fabric for binding but thought it would be a little strong as a regular binding on a square edge quilt.

I used Susan Cleveland's "Piping Hot Binding" Kit (that included the cording for the piping and a tool to trim it). According to her instructions, in order to use the piping around the edge I had to have curved corners so I decided to create a wavy edge all around. I like that it softened the look of the quilt even further. It is a little more than 22 inches square and completes the two credit course in miniature quilts. :)

I am glad this one is also done but I think the fabrics blend too much to be really effective using this “Twister” block design. I think my original pattern choice, the blended nine-patch would have probably worked a little better with these fabrics. But I love, love, love how quickly and easily it went together and since I couldn’t get more of the fabric that I would have needed to complete the nine-patch design this will more than suffice. I am also glad I finally got a chance to do one of these types of quilts and look forward to doing another one. I still have to do some light quilting on this one to finish it up: I'll just stitch in the ditch around the narrow green border and the outside outline of the Twister blocks and tack stitch the center of each pinwheel. Once that is done, I can email Finn to post two finishes for my pledge tally.

And last but not least the Tree Skirt is layered. I was lucky -- back in March Connecting Threads had a big batting sale and I had purchased a couple of Hobbs crib size fusible batts for use with wall quilt projects. I was able to layer both the blue & white quilt and the tree skirt with one package.

This Week's Goals:

Do the quilting on the blue & white quilt and mail off both doll quilts.
Quilt the Tree Skirt (and decorate the tree purchased on Sunday!)
Layer the Schnibble and Crumb quilts and quilt them.
Start quilting the Brrr Park! quilt (already layered from last year).

As I said at the start, I don't know how many projects I will complete for the Year-End Challenge. Last week I saw a post for Myra's PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge for January - June of 2011 (and I see that Finn has signed up this week!). I've already made a list because even if by some lucky chance I get my pledged projects done before year-end, I've still got another stack that needs to be worked on! Myra has asked that if you join the challenge, you start off with a post with pictures of your pledged projects so I am going to try and gather those up this week and then submit my name for inclusion. I am also picking up on another goal that someone mentioned on their blog: to try to finish next year with no PHD's/UFO's which at this moment is doable. But to finish with no HSY's (pronounced "Hussies" and stands for Haven't Started Yet) is a whole 'nother story!

So keeping hope alive, head on over to Bari's to see what everyone else has in store for the remaining weeks of 2010.

Quilters Accountability 12/8/10

2010-12-08T17:41:00.001-05:00

It's been another busy week with slow progress but progress none the less.

Last Week's Goals:

Finish the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt (she said, fingers crossed!). Not finished but significant progress made.
Make the blue and white doll quilt top. Nope, didn't have time but I expect to get to it this week.
Finish the DWR top. No, but I did get to lay out the blocks and check the applique layout.
Layer #2, #3, the Christmas Tree skirt and the Crumb top for quilting (while my table is till clear!) Another nope but will get to that this week for sure.

I was "talking" to (actually emailing) another quilter and we commiserated over the fact that we often feel we don't get much done but when we look up at the end of the year (or maybe even a year or two later) only then do we realize just how much we do or have accomplished.

Case in point, I saw a blog post about Myra's 2011 PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge and began to think that maybe I should hedge my bets about this year and start making my list for NEXT year. But then I also decided to look BACK at my goal list for this year. And what I found reassured me: of the eleven projects I had listed at the end of 2009, I had already completed six BEFORE the challenge. In addition, I had the goal of trying new ways to quilt my quilts, one of which was to try hand quilting. Well that too has been done. So while I STILL want to get some (o.k., all!) of the things on my Y/E list done, I am not going to fall apart if I don't. Over all, it's already been a very good year!

But back to the task at hand. The good news this week was that I finished the library reshelving ahead of schedule, getting it all done on Monday and now this should free me until after the New Year when the school will get the cataloguing software for all the new books and I can go back in and help tag and shelve those. Finishing early would have been even sweeter if I could have looked forward to having the rest of the week to myself but a cousin's babysitting request for yesterday and an appointment today nixed that. However, tomorrow and Friday are (so far, fingers crossed yet again) looking good for a two day quilt-a-thon!

I am glad to say I have FINALLY been able to make some significant progress on the hand quilting of the Amish Doll Quilt.

The Dritz needles are working. It's still not easy but a few more full rows and the outer edges and it will be done. The new needles have also prompted me to dig out another long lingering WISP (Work In Slow Progress) - although this one will NOT be part of the Y/E Challenge! Back in 2005, I had started a hand quilted, reversible quilt-as-you-go project that had appeared in the July/August 1998 issue of Quilters Newsletter (#304).

At the time it seemed simple enough: make the squares, fill them with squares of batting, top/quilt stitch the blocks and then whipstitch them together into a top. The idea was for this to be a portable and TV viewing project. However, I found it really difficult to quilt these blocks first with regular quilting needles and then trying longer, more flexible straw needles (and hence why there are only two finished in five years!). Part of the problem in my opinion was that the batting I started with, Warm & White, was too thick for hand quilting (an opinion later corroborated by Roxanne McElroy when I read her book "That Perfect Stitch"). But even when I found another, lighter, white cotton batting (Fairfield's Soft Touch) earlier this year, I found it hard to needle with the needles I had. But I think the Dritz needle I am currently using will also work with this old project and I look forward to getting back to this one after the Doll quilt project is done.

I also got to layout some of the blocks for the Double Wedding Ring quilt top.

I was concerned because AFTER I had completed most of the applique, I realized that I had oriented the motifs wrong: in the pattern, the block centers are laid out on point but when I did the applique I had applied the appliques to the centers as if they would be laid out on the square. I was scared that it would adversely affect the layout. But as far as I can see, while it won't look exactly like the pattern (which is not a concern for me) I don't think it ruins it. I did get arcs and melons attached to one center and finding out just how tricky it will be, I now know that putting this one together is going to take a lot of slow, steady work. It will get done but probably not until right up to deadline and might not get quilted this year as hoped.

This Week's Goals:

Finish the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt.
Make the blue and white doll quilt top.
Work steadily on the DWR top.
Layer #2, the Christmas Tree skirt, the Schnibble top and the Crumb top for quilting.

This makes the list pretty much like last week. Head on over to Bari's to see what everyone else will be moving on to for the next week. As always, Happy Quilting!!

Quilters Accountability 12/1/10

2010-12-01T16:19:00.000-05:00

It's December! OH, NO IT'S DECEMBER!!!! That's how I feel since I didn't get much done this week. Now I am feeling the heat. I’ve got to get a move on or once again I’ll fall far short on my Year-End Challenge goal (or heaven forbid even fail it completely!) But I am still optimistic for the coming weeks.

Last Week's Goals:

Finish the DWR top while down in NC. Nope, did some more prep work but didn't get the blocks together.
On my return, continue to work on the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt. Nope, haven't had time--Yet.
Make one block for the Sage Sampler. Nope didn't have time before or after the trip.
When the fabric comes, make the "Blue & White" Doll quilt top (received notification that the order has shipped and should arrive by Monday at the latest). Fabric did arrive while we were gone but work on it will have to get added to this week's list.
Layer some quilts (but we'll see how that goes). Nope but there are big hopes for this week!
PLANNED BUT NOT ON THE LIST: Help my MIL finish the borders on three Xmas gift quilt tops -- Done.

The Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend was nice. We had a good time and got to visit with all of my husband’s family both Thursday (planned) and Friday (unplanned) which was great since we won’t get to see them for Christmas. I did get the primary goal for the visit accomplished -- my MIL and I did get the three quilt tops she was working on just about done. Due to the MANY unplanned for activities that weekend (other over-night guests, birthday celebrations, shopping), we didn’t get to sew until Saturday evening and had to stay up most of the night and then get up early on Sunday to finish up before we had to leave. When I left, she only had the top and bottom borders (which I pinned on) to finish stitching on to the three tops. She already has her backing fabric so hopefully by mid-month they will be quilted and ready to gift. It wasn't until I started writing this post during the ride back in the car that I realized I should have taken a picture of the tops for this post. My MIL doesn’t know how to transfer pictures from her photo card to her computer (something I had planned to show her but also didn't have time to do) so I can’t ask her to send me one. Darn!

The down side was that I didn’t get much work done on my own project while away. I pieced together all the curved scraps cut from the applique centers and trimmed them into the melon pieces that will go between the arcs (but will need to cut more straight from fabric) and cut most (but not all) of the red corner squares but that’s about it. I also tried to start laying out my DWR blocks but had to do so on a bed since my MIL doesn't have a design wall. I found that wasn't enough space nor visually helpful to look at on a flat plane.

Long before the trip I had purchased supplies to make a portable design wall using the plans in this tutorial and had planned to put it together and bring it on the trip. But all the extra baking I had to do before we left nixed that. So once back home (and after all the post-trip laundry and shopping that needed to be done), I made the wall since I really need a big one for these blocks. I modified the original design so that I have a second support leg (using the leftover 4 ft cut) so I can stand the wall vertical (tall) or horizontal (wide) as needed.

As noted above, the fabric for the blue and white doll quilt did come in while we were away so hopefully I can finally get back to that little project.

Original fabrics on the left, new additions on the right.

And I did get a Dritz Quilting Needle Assortment while in NC. They are much heavier than the Clover needles I’ve been using and I have a lot of sizes so now should be able to make good progress on finishing the quilting on the Amish Doll quilt. Also while down there, my MIL took me to a local quilt shop where I found this beauty of a polka dot batik FQ assortment, a batik FQ to add to my Batik Storm-At-Sea project stash and some Robison-Anton rayon threads that were on sale and may be able to use to quilt two tops I have waiting.

This Week's Goals:

Finish the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt (she said, fingers crossed!).
Make the blue and white doll quilt top.
Finish the DWR top.
Layer #2, #3, the Christmas Tree skirt and the Crumb top for quilting (while my table is till clear!)

The library reshelving is coming to a close. I finished the numerical sections the week before last, I'll finish the fiction section tomorrow and the Biography section by next Wednesday at the latest (but I really hope to get it all done by Tuesday). With that done, I will have my mornings back until the library gets the financial grant the principal has applied for to purchase a cataloging system for all the new books that need Dewey tags. I don't expect any of that to happen until after the New Year so after next week, my time will be my own again.

So yet another ambitious week but hopefully not another with unexpected challenges to block the blessings of some finishes. Now head on over to Bari's and see what projects everyone else is starting their December off with.

Quilters Accountability 11/24/10

2010-11-24T21:13:00.000-05:00

Not much to show for this week because it's been a busy one. First the recap:

Last Week's Goals:

Continue to work on the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt. Some done but it's still a slow go.
Make one block for the Sage Sampler. Didn't touch it.
When the fabric comes, make the "Blue & White" Doll quilt top. Nope, still has not arrived.
~~Finish the machine applique of DWR block centers in prep for Thanksgiving trip.~~ Well, something was accomplished!

This week was a whirlwind. I volunteered in the library at DS2's middle school on Thursday which wasn't so bad. Then I volunteered on Friday for Picture Day. I thought it would be just a few hours since it was only two grades but it wound up taking all day! I was exhausted after and so didn't do a thing once back home.

Nope, sorry correct that - it turned out DH had taken the day off and after Picture Day we had to go shopping because my MIL, who I am traveling down to see tomorrow, was in town. When she lived here in New York she, I and a friend of hers used to get together to quilt. But since she has moved, our schedules have not allowed us to link up. She asked if she and her friend could come by since her friend needed help layering a quilt. Normally, my MIL hosted our sessions because she had the most space. Since we'd only work on her friend's quilt, I said yes. Yes, with all that hosting entails. We had a great time working in my little space but that meant no time Saturday to do my stuff. The good news was that I had to clear my table for the layering so I think I will leave it that way until I come back and can work on layering some of my own quilts on my return.

I thought I'd have my own mini-quilt-a-thon on Sunday but after the long week the only thing I did was stay in bed and rest. Monday, I'd planned a longer day at the library because Tuesday and Wednesday I had planned to spend both days doing some baking for the trip. My MIL also put in requests for some additional things so that meant more to do on my baking days.

So I did finish the rest of the DWR applique blocks and the outline quilting of the border motifs on the doll quilt but encountered a problem when I started on the middle. Namely, seam allowances! The Hand Quilting class project I did was a wholecloth design so I wasn't prepared for just how much resistance seams put up in hand quilting. So far, I've tried to stab stitch at seam intersections but I may also try changing to a larger quilting needle (I am using a 10). But all of that will have to wait until after the holiday!!

This Week's Goals:

Finish the DWR top while down in NC.
On my return, continue to work on the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt.
Make one block for the Sage Sampler.
When the fabric comes, make the "Blue & White" Doll quilt top (received notification that the order has shipped and should arrive by Monday at the latest).
Layer some quilts (but we'll see how that goes).

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends. And if you've got a little time, check in at Bari's to see what everyone else has planned for the week -- after all the eating is done of course!

Quilters Accountability 11/17/10

2010-11-17T17:25:00.001-05:00

A productive and not so productive week this week. As expected the weekend was a bust for quilting since I had things to do and places (a quilt show) to go to. I should have had pictures for that but while I did remember my camera (for once), I forgot that I took the memory card out to transfer files between computers!

And the quilting on the Amish Doll quilt has started off just like the applique did -- more challenging than expected and therefore very slow going and not finished. On the other hand, I am on track with the prep of my Double Wedding Ring centers and those should be ready for travel next week (is it Thanksgiving already?!?!?).

Last Week's Goals:

(Finally) Start and finish the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt. Did get a little done but it's still (slowly) ongoing.
Make one block for the Sage Sampler. Nope was too focused on the DWR work.
When the fabric comes, make the "Blue & White" Doll quilt top. Nope, because the fabric hasn't come yet.
Do machine applique of DWR blocks in prep for Thanksgiving trip. Yes, only have the last two rows left to applique and trim.

The pattern, the layout for the fabrics for my centers, what's been appliqued and/or cut so far.

An example of the (machine) appliqued centers and the remaining two rows to do. And boy do I need a new ironing board cover!

This Week's Goals:

Continue to work on the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt. (I've learned my lesson, no more promises for a finish until it's finished!)
Make one block for the Sage Sampler.
When the fabric comes, make the "Blue & White" Doll quilt top.
Finish the machine applique of DWR block centers in prep for Thanksgiving trip.

I've got an extra bit of volunteering to do this week: in addition to working in the library, I am helping out with Picture Day on Friday. Since it is only two grades (6 & 7th, the 8th grade graduates took their pictures last week), I am hoping it will only be for a couple of hours. I've worked Picture Day in the past at the elementary school when we had to do grades K-5. That was an all day job so this should be much, much quicker.

Now that I'm done reporting, I'm headed over to Bari's to see what everyone else got done this week!

Quilters Accountability 11/10/10

2010-11-10T18:26:00.001-05:00

Last Week's Goals:

~~Complete the applique leaves on the Amish Doll Quilt.~~ Start and finish the quilting. Applique is finally finished! Quilt is layered and on the frame and the hand quilting can start tomorrow!
~~Make one block for the Sage Sampler (to be done each week until all six are done).~~ Done, I technically got two done, one pieced and one a cut-out from a coordinating panel.
~~Piece the Christmas Tree skirt.~~ Done, needs to be layered and quilted.
Catch up on all the Quilt Whisperer class notes and assignments. I downloaded the last of the notes. Since the class ended last weekend, I am on my own to read and learn from them.
Quilt the "Scratch" top. Nope and on hold since I've got to start back on my DWR blocks to take with me on Thanksgving.

It was a busy week. I never thought I'd get the applique work done! Part of it was just the slog toward a finish and part of it was that I started volunteering at the beginning of the month in the library at DS2's middle school. The library completed a year long renovation over the summer and I am helping re-shelve all the books. Since they weren't put away in order, it means sorting everything down to the last decimal!

With the applique done and on the frame and I've got the next two days for a mini quilt-a-thon (the kids are off from school tomorrow for Veteran's Day and I don't normally go in to the library on Friday ). And I'll need those days since I've got an appointment to go to on Saturday and I have plans to go to a quilt show on Sunday.

I got everything else I wanted to get done except for reviewing the quilting class notes and well, quilting! But if I can get past this last phase of hand work, I'll be ready to re-focus my head back to machine work.

Sampler Blocks

Christmas Tree Skirt: "Happy Holidays" by Atkinson Designs. The green fabric will be backing and binding.

Another little diversion this week happened while finishing up the applique: I remembered that I had planned yet another doll quilt for this same aunt. Back in 2006 or 2007, we had a conversation and she told me her favorite colors were blue and white. Shortly after that I came across a fat quarter fabric sampler in the perfect colors in a Connecting Threads catalog. Back then, they still sold other manufacturers fabrics. The fabric line was called "The Gathering Garden" by Debbie Beaves for RJR Fabrics and I wanted to make a nice garden-themed quilt. When I dug out the sampler set, I found that back then I had worked up a quilt design based on a pattern called "It's A Snap". Unfortuately, after cutting out half of it, I realized that my cutting calculations were not correct and I didn't have enough of the large blue rose floral fabric for all the outer setting triangles (see: measure twice, cut once!).

The good news is I've got another quick design in mind to use and combined with the fabric I have left and some more fabric I was able to order from an internet vendor who is still selling the line (and on sale!) I can still try to add this quick project to my year-end list. Finn, who is hosting the Year-End Challenge recently blogged that some participants are adding "X-tra" projects to their lists (projects in addition to the UFO finishes they pledged) so this can count as a bonus project for me.

This Week's Goals:

(Finally) Start and finish the quilting on the Amish Doll Quilt.
Make one block for the Sage Sampler.
When the fabric comes, make the "Blue & White" Doll quilt top.
Do machine applique of DWR blocks in prep for Thanksgiving trip.

We will be going back down to North Carolina to my mother-in-law's for Thanksgiving. When she lived up here, she, a friend of hers and I would get together to quilt. She says she has some quilts she wants to make for Christmas gifts so the plan is for us to work on our projects over the long weekend. I want to take my Double Wedding Ring blocks down and put the top together. I finished all the pieced arcs last summer and need to add applique to some centers (by machine this time) and then cut the centers and the melons so they can be sewn to the arcs. This is one of my UFO Challenge List projects so it would be good to move it along.

Please Note!

On my sidebar is a link to the blog tour for Quiltmaker's newest special issue "100 Blocks, Vol 2".

The magazine is filled with blocks designed by many popular designers (all you Judy Laquidara fans--she's in there!). The magazine will be in stores on November 16 but if you check out the designer's blogs on the tour, you might win a copy -- like me!! I found out yesterday that I won a copy from Rebecca LoGiudice of Willow Hill Quilts. Seems like my luck has been good lately since I also won a copy of the Fall/Winter 2010 American Patchwork & Quilting Quilt Sampler from Jill at Cre8fmom Quilts at the end of last month. That one was my very first blog giveaway win. With luck like this, maybe I'd better play the Lotto too!

Now get even more lucky and check in at Bari's and see what other quilters are getting done this week!

Quilters Accountability 11/3/10

2010-11-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

Subtitle: Reality Check!

Well, at least I expected it. Despite thinking I'd have a number of opportunities to get to all my projects, reality was that most of the non-quilty things I had planned this past week took more time or energy than expected so when I had down time (aka hobby time), I was sometimes too tired to get any quilt work done. On the up side, there has been some progress made and I've learned over the last few years that any progress, even baby steps, gets you that much closer to the finish. And with progress, has come knowledge and that has kept me going.

Last Week's Goals:

Complete the applique on the Amish Doll Quilt. If accomplished start (and finish?) the quilting. Did get all the flowers done and all the leaves cut out.
~~If doll quilt gets done before next Friday, post to Amy's Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival.~~ Nope won't make this in time. So taking this off the list.
Complete the remaining six blocks for the Sage Sampler. Decide on the layout and whether it needs/there is room for sashing. Didn't get to this one at all and I've decided to make this a little easier on myself, so see revised goals for this week.
~~Cut out the Christmas Tree skirt.~~ Done!
Complete assignments for the Quilt Whisperer class. Didn't get to this and have to pick up this week's notes and assignments as well.

I was a little disappointed in not getting the doll quilt finished, I have enjoyed all the hand work but am anxious to get back to machine piecing and quilting. But I have also learned a lot about it as I've progressed though this project. I now realize that this was too small a project for me to do needle-turn given my current hand work skill level.

The applique looks very rough. It is much harder to get a smooth line on such small pieces and I can now really appreciate all the extra leeway you have on bigger items. If I were to work this small again, I'd have to consider methods for preparing my pieces (freezer paper, english paper pieceing, starch and press) to get better edges. But I still like it and think the rough look will suit it when it is displayed with the dolls -- it will look like either a kid or the dolls themselves made it!

So rather than this being a set back, I am even more focused on getting this finished and off the WIP list. I have also lined up ideas for a lot of future applique projects. I got the first block of the Jan Patek "House & Garden" BOM I signed up for. I'm saving that to try working on it in the car since we are expecting to drive down to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. I also plan to substitute a few blocks in that project and have to review the options I lined up for it while waiting for the series to start.

If any of you are interested in applique, the Canadian quilt designers of The Rabbit Factory have started a new, free pattern series of four seasonal wall hangings which can be picked up monthly from their website here (scroll down to the bottom of the page to download the .zip file). I found one of their designs in a 1999 issue of McCall's Quilting and look forward to getting a couple of their patterns.

This Week's Goals:

Complete the applique leaves on the Amish Doll Quilt. Start and finish the quilting.
Make one block for the Sage Sampler (to be done each week until all six are done).
Piece the Christmas Tree skirt.
Catch up on all the Quilt Whisperer class notes and assignments.
Quilt the "Scratch" top.

I am also a little disappointed not to have something for the Bloggers Quilt Festival, but I've already been enjoying the entries by the bloggers who are in my Google Reader feed. So I am looking forward to surfing through the entries over the next few weeks and seeing what is out there. I was actually able to look at all 600+ entries made in the spring and found a lot of great new blogs as a result.

With the Quilt Whisperer class almost done, I am looking forward to quilting all the quilt tops I have laying about and getting them done for the Year-End Challenge. My (as usual, ambitious) plans are to try to get to one each week. The "Scratch" top is a wall hanging so I hope it will only be a one or two day quilt job.

If anyone is struggling with motivation for finishing up (or getting rid of) your UFOs, Pat Sloan is issuing weekly "UFO Busting" tips on her blog from now until Thanksgiving Day and has a support forum that you can also participate in.

So join me back at Bari's to see what everyone else accomplished on their list this week!

Quilters Accountability Report 10/27/10

2010-10-27T14:12:00.001-04:00

As noted in my last post, I am joining back up with Bari at her My Crazy Quilting Life blog and everyone who participates in her weekly Wednesday Quilters Accountability check in. I have nine projects I've committed to for Finn's Year-End UFO Finish Challenge (and a few more that I'd personally like to see put to bed before the end of this year) so once again I think I need the pressure of a reporting deadline to stay on track.

Case in point: despite planning to work on my aunt's doll quilt yesterday and today, I got zip, nada done (can you say "too much surfing?"). Fortunately all it took was Bari's blog to come up in the Google Reader to remind me of the tasks at hand that I am neglecting. And since I have a meeting to go to with DS1 tonight and Parent Teacher Conferences Friday afternoon, I'm still not too sure how much I'll get done this week. But I'll have a go at a list anyway (sorry, no work, no pictures!).

This Week's Goals:

Complete the applique on the Amish Doll Quilt. If accomplished start (and finish?) the quilting.
If doll quilt gets done before next Friday, post to Amy's Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival.
Complete the remaining six blocks for the Sage Sampler. Decide on the layout and whether it needs/there is room for sashing.
Cut out the Christmas Tree skirt.
Complete assignments for the Quilt Whisperer class.

Well that should do it. Now let's see what gets done! Check out what everyone else got done this week and has in their pipeline for next week back at Bari's. See you next week!

Handwork Updates

2010-10-25T15:34:00.006-04:00

In my last post, I was working on a lot of hand work projects for two classes I took at Quilt University. As of last Monday, all the class projects and one additional block had been finished.

On the left is the Hand Quilting piece from Nancy Chong's Hand Quilting Class, on the right were the two class blocks from her Hand Applique class. The little center block is part of a sampler project I've wanted to do for a while (more on that later).

For now, the large applique blocks are orphans. But now that my eyes have been opened to the pleasures of doing hand work, I've been looking at a lot of potential applique projects and the ideas are piling up. So far, I've got preliminary plans for the wreath block to become the center of a medallion quilt but both could also eventually wind up in samplers. On Friday, the Hand Quilting piece became this (rather large) bed pillow cover:

I'll be washing it with the laundry tomorrow to take out all the stencil markings and I've still got to make a pillow insert by serging some squares of muslin together and stuffing it with batting scraps. I was glad to find a good outer ruffle fabric -- it will go with a number of the quilts I've already made for my bed and another one I hope to finish by year's end. I love the double ruffle but next time I make one I will make two single (hemmed) layers rather than folding each layer together to create the finished edges. Those four layers of fabric were a devil to ruffle (too thick to do on the serger) although they do form a nice firm edge around the pillow.

The little green and white Hawaiian applique block will be added to other blocks as part of a "framed sampler" project that I started waaayyy back in 2004 (I think?).

I had always wanted to try to make a paper-cut style applique block for this piece but at the time I was only doing machine applique and was not sure I could get it done. When I realized this style of applique was also covered in the Hand Applique class, I was elated to think I might get this one done and made sure to pick a design and baste and stitch it up along with the larger class project. The blocks for this sampler will finish at 3" (I've still got to trim the background of the applique block down) and will be pieced, paper-pieced and (now) hand appliqued. The very wonky Nosegay block on the lower left may or may not stay -- I like the fabrics but the piecing is pretty bad. On the paper in the lower right corner is a list of the other potential blocks I want to make for this such as Churn Dash, Card Trick and Goose Chase/Dutchman's Puzzle. I would love to get this one finally finished before the end of the year and cross it off the WISP list.

As noted in the previous post, all this hand work focus was also supposed to help get me back to this project:

This was a doll quilt I started in 2007 for my aunt who collects dolls and will be the second one I've made for her. The center strips were leftovers from the Amish "Trip Around the World" quilt I made back in 2006 which I talked about in my "Bucket List" post. The applique design is from the "Pineapple Welcome" quilt in the "The Scrap Savers Solution Book" book by Connie Kaufman, reduced in size by 50%. Unfortunately, I had completed most of the previous hand work projects while listening to the NY Yankees play in the American League championships (even though I am officially a life-long NY Mets fan) but now that they have been eliminated, I've got to find something else to listen to while stitching. Fortunately, there are always my favorites -- podcasts. This afternoon I will listen to Pat Sloan's show and I know that Sandy at Quilting For The Rest of Us has a new episode I also need to catch up on so that should keep me busy.

Both this and the sampler project are part of the nine (!) project commitment I've made for Finn's "Year End Challenge" this year (button on the side bar). I didn't do so great last year but I hope my "Spring Finish" productivity will be repeated for this one. And if I can get it finished by the end of the week, I am hoping that this will be my "Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival" entry (button also on the side bar) since I missed posting in the last one.

That's all for now but hopefully more to come later this week. Happy Quilting!

Design Wall Monday 10/4/10

2010-10-04T16:37:00.000-04:00

Subtitle: Never Say Never!

I started quilting eight years ago because I learned that quilting did not necessarily mean handwork -- you could make a quilt, pieced or appliqued, start to finish, by machine. That intrigued me because I come from a clothing sewing background and I tell you, the day I learned that you could hem skirts and pants by machine was the greatest day of my sewing life! I hated hand work that much.

However, lately I have been on a handwork jag! My current projects are this:

and this:

How did I get from there to here? It's not to say that I didn't admire people who quilt or applique by hand -- their work is beautiful -- I just never thought I'd get anything done if I did it that way. But over time, I found blogs and got to regularly follow the work of impresarios like Janet of Quiltsalott and Cathy of Cabbage Quilts, Lori of Humble Quilts and Kathie at Inspired By Antique Quilts, Karen hand piecing and appliqueing many of her Dear Jane blocks at A Quilters Journey Back In Time and lately I've been following the exploits of Ann Champion on her blog and others at Glorious Applique as they work on the latest Kim McLean Roseville Album masterwork (and I've always admired her work too!).

And I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe I could do it too! One of my first quilts was a doll quilt for an aunt of mine that collects dolls. It had machine appliqued hearts on it and was machine quilted with the exception of the border that I had to quilt by hand because I couldn't do what I wanted at the time on the machine (as Jeff Foxworthy says, there's your sign!!!!). I've always wanted to make my aunt another one and two years ago thought a doll quilt might be the way to try some hand work on a small scale. Those of you that visited my blog in the early days might remember my first header picture:

The doll quilt is on the hoop

...and until this summer that project has sat because after the center piecing was done there was supposed to be hand applique motifs in the borders and then hand quilting for the finishing. But after I tried a little of the hand applique and wasn't happy with it, I moved back to machine work. Fast forward to this year and getting a lot of projects done for Jacqui's Spring Finish, I wanted to keep that momentum and tackle some overdue UFOS. Then I saw that Quilt University (from which I have taken a class before and always wanted to take another) was offering a Hand Applique class taught by Nancy Chong and it was starting just before I was due to go down south for a week. Perfect I thought, I can take the class assignment with me and work on it during the drive down.

NOT!! I did not have time before I left to download the class notes and when we came back I was busy with family stuff and couldn't quickly decide on fabrics to use for the class project. Then I bought a new sewing machine and of course I focused on trying it out. So I just printed out all the class notes, followed the class discussion and vowed to get back to it once things slowed down. That happened in September when my sons went back to school and after the class had closed. But then right behind it, they offered a Hand Quilting class also taught by Nancy. Since I also needed that skill for the doll quilt project, I immediately (impulsively?!) decided to sign up for it too, figuring that I could work on the Applique class projects while doing the prep work for the Hand Quilting class project and maybe, just maybe when the smoke cleared and all the class projects were finished, I could start back on the doll quilt project that inspired it all and maybe get that long over due gift off to its intended recipient before year's end.

So far, so good. As you saw in the first pictures, the first applique class project, the wreath block, is done (including some embroidery finishing -- another craft I have not done in over thirty years!), the Hawaiian applique block is basted and about a quarter done. The smaller green one (which is also basted) is for a framed sampler UFO started six years ago and for which I always wanted a Hawaiian style block. The Hand Quilting class project, a feathered wreath with grid quilting in the center and background, is about half done and I am making good progress on it. I expect all of them to be done by the end of the week so that for the rest of the month I can work on the doll quilt and complete it.

Why the rush? Well, I've still got one basted quilt from last year, a crumb quilt top awaiting borders, layering and quilting, the three tops I made this summer on the new machine and a Christmas tree skirt on deck for piecing, all of which I'd like to quilt up in November and put my new machine through its paces again. So wish me luck on all things hand and machine and in your quilting journey, never say never!

Summer Replay – Part 2

2010-09-16T15:30:00.002-04:00

In my last post I told you I had bought a new sewing machine, a Janome Horizon 7700.

And if ‘ya got a new machine, ‘ya gotta test it out right? Warranty and all that. So what have I been testing my new baby on?

On the non-quilting front:

I made a summer top – the first clothing sewing I’ve done in about twenty years. Even had to put in a zipper!

I recently ordered some more patterns – despite having three file cabinet drawers filled with patterns from the old days. Unfortunately I’ve gotten a little more “mature” in size so many are no longer my size. I hope to do more clothing sewing on a regular basis from now on.

On the quilting front:

I completed a donation quilt!

D Dino Sports 2 began with the leftovers of the quilt I made for my cousin’s son from a kit last year (and blogged about here). I saw the pattern for it in the Spring 2009 issue of Easy Quilts magazine and knew it was perfect for using up the leftovers (with a few additional purchases needed to round out the project). Earlier this summer I had participated in Victoria's Bumble Beans Inc. Block Gather, where she collected house blocks from quilters to be made, by her, into quilts for donation to the Basics Promesa organization that helps homeless people get resettled which I blogged about here. (If you would like to see the quilts she made from all the donated blocks, you can see them here).

After the Block Gather was so successful, she made arrangements with the organization to accept finished quilts from other quilters. When I heard about this, I knew this was the perfect destination for the Dino Sports 2 quilt since I’d only made it to use up the fabrics and I didn’t have any more young relatives to gift it to. I already had the quilt half way quilted when I bought my new machine so I got to finish the quilting, binding (attached by machine which is the way I bind all my quilts), a pillowcase and the best part, made a monogrammed label for the quilt and donated it in early August for the Basics Quilt Gather.

Please note: they are still accepting donations of quilts for this cause. If you are interested, click the links in the above paragraph or the one on the sidebar.

I made my first Schnibble!

Like many, I’ve long wanted to work on a charm pack project. Last year, I started following the “Year of Schnibbles” group on Sinta's and Sherri's blogs and became enamored of the cute patterns Carrie Nelson designs for her company Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co. Then earlier this year I heard that she was coming out with a new book, “Schnibbles Times Two”, and I decided to purchase it to see first hand what all the fuss was about. Of course there were numerous designs in the book I wanted to try, figuring that they’d be small and therefore quick to piece and great for quilt stitch practice.

I came across some batik charm square packs that I really liked (Venetian and Atmosphere by Benartex which I got from Clotilde.com) and quickly realized they’d be great for a Schnibbles project and purchased them and some background fabric (Dots/ Batik Landscape from Keepsake Quilting). I finished “Scratch” in late July and its now waiting layering and quilting. The green brown batik on the side will be the backing and “turned to the front” binding (using the “Quick Easy Mitered-Binding Tool").

I also made my first jelly roll project!

A quilting friend had given me the book "Two From One Jelly Roll Quilts" by Pam and Nicky Linott (of The Quilt Room in the U.K.) earlier this year. I felt about jelly rolls the same way I did about charm packs so plotted the chance to make one of the projects in the book. The push was – as it often is – a fabric sale, this one by Connecting Threads. They had the 2-1/2” strips and yardage of their “Sweet & Sour” line (and other fabrics) on clearance so I was able to pick up the fabric and backing for this project for a really low price. After I finished the top (“Jigsaw”), I really felt that I wanted to add another border to it.

I wanted to get more of the background fabric for the border but unfortunately, it was was no longer available. But then I checked out some of the kits using this fabric line and found one for a lap quilt (also on clearance) that had enough of the same fabric I wanted for the border and the lap quilt's design was such that I figured I could find another fabric to substitute for what I'd take out and still be able to make the kit quilt.


Here's "Jigsaw" with the additional border added

This one is also now ready for layering and quilting.

3. As noted above, I purchased a lap quilt kit in order to use some of the fabric from it for the jelly roll project. On Labor Day, I finished the top for that quilt, “Flowing Silk”, using a Hoffman fabric (the purple floral) I purchased from Hartsdale Fabrics to replace the Connecting Threads print I purloined from the kit and now lastly, this too is ready for layering and quilting.

I also did some work on some old projects (started last summer, blogged about here) . I had my sons sew more strips for the string and denim tumbling block quilts I want to finish for them for the winter season. I had planned for this to be one of the summer activities I did with them and while I did let them to sew on my new machine for a little while, there is still a lot of work to be done on this.

I also finished all the pieced arcs I need for my Double Wedding Ring quilt project which was supposed to have been the project I focused on this summer. Last summer, I had picked out all the fabrics I wanted to use for the ring centers and melons so now I have to do the appliqué for the centers and then cut the centers and melons and attach them to the arcs to create the rings. I’d like to at least get this to the “completed top” stage by the end of this year but you know how that goes – only time will tell.

Well, that catches me up. Hopefully with school started, I can try to post more regularly. Hope your Summer was good and your Fall will be even better!

Summer Replay – Part 1

2010-09-15T15:12:00.001-04:00

Well, I am back. It has been another summer where I intended to post but didn’t. Partly it is because I have been dealing with a personal family crisis that has taken all summer to try to resolve. Since this blog is meant to focus on quilting, I won’t get into the details except to say it is now in its final stages and when completed will bring closure to an issue that had concerned me for some time.

But the summer wasn’t all gloom and doom. While my family didn’t make too many summer plans, we did get to travel to Virginia (to visit my aunt) and North Carolina where my mother-in-law and her husband recently retired to (and a few other family members on my husband’s side also decided to relocate in their wake). On the way back, we visited the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, VA.

It’s a really interesting stop and I’d recommend it particularly if you have family that have served or are serving in the military. We also took our kids this summer to Medieval Times, the jousting dinner theater show, which my sons enjoyed immensely (sorry, it was pretty dark inside so I have no great pictures of the show). I also finally took my sons to the Transit Museum in NYC. I think I enjoyed it more than they did since over the years I've ridden a number of the different types of subway cars they have on display. The rest of the summer was spent just relaxing (mostly in the house because it was so hot!) or going to the movies and keeping my youngest son on track to complete his summer reading and math packets.

The BIG NEWS on the sewing and quilting front is…..(wait for it)……I bought a new sewing machine!!! After quilting five quilts in row this year, I really believed that I was pushing my old sewing machine to its limits. My Euro-Pro 9106 has served me very well in the six years I’ve owned it.

In the process of quilting "Triangle Trips" earlier this year.

But I longed for a machine with a wider throat space and that could accommodate high-speed stitching (which I’ve done on my machine but was not sure that it was meant for it since towards the end it seemed to struggle a bit). Of course I’ve viewed and sampled long-arm machines at quilt shows but I live in an apartment and although we have plans to move to a bigger unit, I still won’t have the space to accommodate one. So I started looking into mid-arms and dedicated straight stitch machines, thinking I could buy one to supplement my Euro-Pro.

Then I saw an ad for IT that really peaked my interest. IT had all the features I wanted now, some I had always wished mine had and some that were things I always wanted. Then I remembered that there had been a dealer of ITs brand at the last quilt show I went to and found they weren’t too far from me and thought I’d go take look at IT. That look quickly turned into a purchase and I welcomed home my new……Janome Horizon 7700!

I can’t say that I had planned to make this big a purchase this soon but I am happy I did (and the decision was supported by my DH!). I got the throat space and the stitch speed I wanted but also got an extremely well lit sewing surface, automatic thread cutter, knee lift, a built-in even feed system, three different kinds of free motion/darning feet (closed, open and "big foot") and a full array of other accessory feet, more decorative stitches than in my old machine, and a monogramming function!

I’ve been able to spend time this summer getting to know it. There was no learning curve at all, in fact Joann, the owner of the Nimble Thimble in Port Chester, NY where I bought it, said I was entitled to in-store lessons on how to use the machine but I’ve got to tell you – after trying the machine at the store under the guidance of the store staff, watching some on-line videos just before I bought it, watching the same videos at home on the DVD that comes with the machine and then just sitting down with the manual and some projects and using it, additional lessons were really unnecessary. The machine is fairly intuitive to use (if you have been sewing for any amount of time and are familiar with computerized sewing machines).

Needless to say I am loving it and very happy with it and am now really excited about eventually getting what was originally planned to have been my next big equipment purchase – a Koala cabinet. Fortunately the Nimble Thimble is also a dealer for that so if we ever (ever, ever?) get called for the bigger unit we’ve applied for (the wait is three to six years and this year made three years), it will be the first (I’m not kidding!) furniture purchase I will make for the new space.

So what have I been testing my new baby on? I’ll take that up in the next post.

Quilters Accountability 6/2/10 and Spring Finish Recap

2010-06-02T19:53:00.002-04:00

Last week's goals:

1. ~~Quilt last border of Charming Log Cabin quilt, bind.~~ Done and finito! The grid quilting of the border ends and the binding took ALOT longer than I expected. But I am very pleased with the results and glad I got it done by the deadline. Now if I could just get a decent picture of it!

2. Layer and baste Dino Sports 2 quilt, quilt, bind and make a pillowcase. Nope. Because of the above, I just got to buy the batting today and will layer it tonight and (hopefully) get it quilted and bound by the end of the week.

3. Add border trim and outer borders of Paisley Crumb quilt, layer to backing, quilt and bind. Nope for the same reasons as the above. But this one will either get started on the weekend or next week, either way, I am determined to get it done by the end of June.

Only downside, I didn't get to post something for the Blogger Quilt Festival! No matter, with the deadlines put to bed, now I can spend time each day checking out all the great posts. Now THAT will be fun!

So, the Spring Finish is finished and I'm pleased that this year I got quite a bit done:

Quilted and Bound: Stashbuster
                                  Vintage Treasures
                                  Charming Log Cabin

Blocks Made:  5 House blocks for Basics Block Gather
                         15 blocks for Underground Railroad Sampler
                         12 blocks for Pioneer Sampler

O.k. it seemed like a lot more when I was doing it but it's still a lot for a little more than a month's work. I'd like to thank Bari again for making this forum available, I don't know that I would have stayed on track to meet the deadline without it. And more importantly, thank you to all the QA gals for the positive reinforcement each week, both your comments and the example you set with your own goals.

Now I can slow it down a bit and start easing toward the summer and some new projects (well, after the last two get done).  As always, you can check back at Bari's and see how everyone else did with their goals this week and get some inspiration for getting your own projects done!

Quilters Accountability 5/26/10

2010-05-26T17:22:00.009-04:00

Well, it's the final week of the Spring Finish!!! Time to get those last few projects done for reporting on Monday. The good news is that I am thisclose to another finish and hope to get at least one more done before deadline.

Last week's goals:

1. Finish the quilting and bind the Charming Log Cabin quilt. Almost done. The quilting in the center is finished. Unfortunately I couldn't get great shots of it. Hopefully when the quilt is completely finished I can get some better ones.

The top and bottom borders (with the squiggly "Princess Woo" fabric) are grid quilted and will then have a (traditional) scallop edge cut into (out of?) it before binding. I will finish the grid quilting on the bottom edge tonight. Even though it's simple to do, it is a bit tedious and therefore time consuming. I still have to decide on the binding (it will probably be the blue stripe on the bias) so I'm not expecting to tackle that until tomorrow or Friday.

2. Layer and quilt the Dino Sports2 quilt for charity donation. Didn't get to this one but......

This week's goals:

Quilt last border of Charming Log Cabin quilt, bind.
Layer and baste Dino Sports 2 quilt, quilt, bind and make a pillowcase.
Add border trim and outer borders of Paisley Crumb quilt, layer to backing, quilt and bind.

The Dino Sports 2 quilt and pillowcase (on the left) will be donated to the Basics Quilt Gather (click the button on the sidebar for details) charity drive when completed. I am expecting it to be quick to quilt since I'm not planning to do anything fancy with the stitching or finishing. I decided to throw the Crumb quilt into the mix this week as well. It too would be simple to finish because the blocks will only be outline stitched. If I can get these two done (whether by the Spring Finish deadline or after), I will only have one flimsy from 2009 still left to quilt and that means I will feel alot less guilty when I start some new projects!

While I put my nose back to the grindstone, you can head over to Bari's to see what everyone else got done this week.

This Just In.....

2010-05-21T10:35:00.003-04:00

I just found out that Amy of Amy's Creative Side blog (formerly Park City Girl) is once again hosting the Third Annual Bloggers Quilt Festival!

Click the link above or on the sidebar to go to Amy's site to view the quilts on display or link your own!

This has been great fun the last two years to both view and participate in. Since I just found out, I'll have to figure out what and if I want to post. Note: The deadline for adding your link is next Friday, May 28th but the links can be accessed for viewing even after the Festival is over.

So what are you waiting for, get over there right now! Trust me, you'll really enjoy it.

Quilters Accountability 5/19/10

2010-05-19T20:32:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the late post but I NEEDED to finish up an important part of last week's goals -- mentally, I just didn't want to take it into the next week. So without further ado.....

Last week's goals:

1. ~~Construct clamshell binding, attach~~ and finish detail quilting on Vintage Treasures quilt. Today I finished handsewing the backing to the binding edge so for the most part this project is in the can for Spring Finish! I still have some detail stitching to finish but I'll do that tonight or first thing tomorrow and do a detail post on the whole project later.

2. Start and complete the quilting on Charming Log Cabin. The quilting was started but I'm not sure I like the stitch pattern I chose. I need to look this one over, decide on the continued course of action and finish this up next week.

3. ~~Finish the last two blocks of the Pioneer sampler.~~ Done and now all the blocks for the sampler are done (last two are in the bottom row, right). And I finally found a border fabric too (underneath the blocks). I was supposed to be making these with two other quilters but one has gone down south for the summer and the other hasn't started hers, so I don't know if I'll move forward with this (after the Spring Finish challenge is over, of course!) or hold the finishing until the Fall. We'll see.

So once again, keeping it light for the next week:

Finish the quilting and bind the Charming Log Cabin quilt.
Layer and quilt the Dino Sports2 quilt for charity donation.

That's it for now, dinner is waiting! If you've already finished your dinner, check out what's on other quilter's "To Do" lists at Bari's blog.

Quilters Accountability 5/12/10

2010-05-12T18:46:00.001-04:00

I checked in last week for Jacqui's Spring Finish Mid-point at her blog, Tallgrass Prairie Studio. I thought it was going to be a "linky list" but you only needed to leave a comment so I did that and didn't post to Judy's Design Wall Monday even though the UGRR blocks were done by then. Almost everyone had at least one thing on their Spring Finish list done and many people had completed multiple projects. There will be a lot of cleared decks for the summer!

As always, this week some things got done but never as much as hoped:

Last week's goals:

1. Finish the quilting on the Vintage Treasures quilt, get the clamshell binding made and finish the quilt.

The quilting for the most part is finally done. I still have to do detail stitching on the inner border corner square blocks and I want to add a filler design inside the half moons on the large red corner triangles. But all that can be done after the binding is prepared and partially stitched on.

I am scheduled to go to my mother-in-law's house on Saturday for a quilt session. When I go, I am expected to bring something to work on, so I'm hoping to get the clamshells made and attached so I can do the final hand stitching of the backing to the edges while there.

2. ~~Work on next two UGRR/Pioneer blocks (one from each).~~ Done, but instead of doing one from each sampler, I made the last two blocks from the Underground Railroad sampler so all of those blocks are now finished.

Blocks completed this week: Carpenters Wheel (first row, fourth from left) and Crossroads (second row, second from left)

3. New priority: Start (and complete?) the quilting on the Charming Log Cabin quilt. Nope, but now that the Vintage Treasures quilting is done, this will be priority this week.

In fact, I already have a stitch pattern in mind and it is an "all-over" design so I am hoping to get that one quilted over the next two days and maybe get to bring that one to my mother-in-law's for binding too.

So keeping the goals light again this week:

Construct clamshell binding, attach and finish detail quilting on Vintage Treasures quilt.
Start and complete the quilting on Charming Log Cabin.
Finish the last two blocks of the Pioneer sampler.

Check out what everyone else has on their list for the upcoming week at Bari's. Let's keep that momentum up!!!

Quilters Accountability Report 5/5/10

2010-05-05T15:57:00.002-04:00

Whew! This week seemed to go so fast! Got some things done but as usual not as much as hoped, although there were some good reasons for that. The weekend was lost to sewing because Saturday, I attended the Northern Star Guild Quilt Show in Somers, NY. It was my first time attending this show and a guild show. It was great -- so great that even though I made a point of bringing my camera and making sure it was fully charged, I was so busy looking at the handiwork on all the quilts, I forgot to take pictures!! There are a few pictures on the guild's website (here, and hopefully they will be posting more in the future) and by other attendees (here) .

The best part was I got to actually meet a fellow blogger whose blog I have long followed, who was "working" the event, won some ribbons and took pictures! You can see Renee's photos of the event and her show entries at her blog Quilt Artistry. We met because as I passed one of her quilts I told one of the ladies I attended the show with (probably a little too loudly), "I know that quilt! I read her blog!, and hearing me who should come around the corner but Renee herself! My congratulations to her again for the ribbons she won at the show.

The show was also great because Susan Cleveland, famous for the "Piping Hot Curves" technique was a guest lecturer and gave a great presentation of her quilts which showcase her techniques, including the ones that have won awards at the major shows. If you have not seen her quilts in person you absolutely must! Her work is phenomenal and I was particularly floored by her "Pretty Flaky" quilt (scroll down this page), a Feathered Star medallion with decorative stitchery, ribbon work (!), snowflake setting square blocks created with a bleach and freezer paper resist technique (!!), a pieced dogtooth curved border (!!!) beaded accents and a beaded piped binding (!!!!). Like I said truly phenomenal and she even allowed us to go up after the lecture for a close up look at the quilts (including touching)! She was a sweet and funny lady and if you ever get a chance to hear her lecture or take a class with her I urge you to do so! Also if any of you use WonderFil thread, she was asked by the company to select colors for a collection of 12 wt decorative threads that are available on her website now and will be in quilt stores either later this month or June.

My quilt show purchases were pretty light: I brought a scrap sampler of Cherrywood fabrics from The Quilters Alley, who recently secured regional retailer rights for Connecticut. Most of Ms. Cleveland's quilts used the Cherrywood fabrics which I have heard alot about and loved the sueded feel of. My only other purchases were a book and a fat quarter pack of light batiks. Sunday my husband and I had to do the monthly run of the warehouse club stores and with that and a little more shopping the weekend was shot.

So checking the list from last week.....

1. Finish the quilting on the Vintage Treasures BOM, get the clamshell binding made and finish the quilt. A little was done but not much. Will spend the rest of this week on that with hopes to finish it by the end of this weekend.

2. ~~Work on four UGRR/Pioneer blocks (two from each).~~ Done! Worked on those (the four blocks vertically on the right in the picutre) before the quilting which is probably why they got done.

3. Try, once again, to work on two Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks. Nope, and think I will skip it this week for my new priority.

4. Restart my sons on sewing strings together for their "Denim Blue Lagoon" quilts and cut string pieced and denim triangles for the blocks. Nope and not sure I will get to it this week either because I've got another new prioirty.

So the list for this week is...

Finish the quilting on the Vintage Treasures quilt, get the clamshell binding made and finish the quilt.
Work on next two UGRR/Pioneer blocks (one from each).
New priority: Start (and complete?) the quilting on the Charming Log Cabin quilt.

I'm going to need to try to stay on track this week because the midway check-in for the "Spring Finish" is Monday. Hop on over to Bari's to see how everyone else is progressing. Let's hope it's a good week for everyone!

Quilters Accountability Report 4/28/10

2010-04-28T18:20:00.003-04:00

Checking In.....let's see how I did this week:

Last week's goals were:

~~Finish quilting and bind the Stashbuster Quilt.~~ Done!
~~Make up the blocks promised for Bumble Beans House Gather -- the deadline is April 30 so got to get moving on those.~~ Done, but less than planned and harder than I thought!
Work on at least two UGRR/Pioneer blocks (one from each). Nope, but maybe I will work on these after posting.
Work on two Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks (might be a long shot). Nope, knew it was a long shot.
If I get the Stashbuster done as quickly as I hope, continue the quilting on the Vintage Treasures BOM and (maybe?) have the quilting completed by the next post. Extra time spent on the house blocks nixed that!

So the good news is that I did get my Stashbuster quilt finished and I am very happy about that. It is my first Spring Finish finish and another completed project for 2010.

Front Back

This was a project that started as a stashbuster challenge by Judy Laquidara at the Patchwork Times blog (2/23/09 post). While I do like the quirky funkiness of my finished quilt, I've got to say that it looks quite different from her original design (which is now available on her site as a free pattern called "Out of the Bag"). Judy works only in tone-on-tones and designs her quilts the same way. Her finished quilt and most of the ones by the quilters who participated in the challenge reflect that. My stash has mostly prints so that's what I worked with. My fabric choices and the limitations thereof forced me to eliminate the float for the center blocks and the inner border that were features in the original design. But in the end it got done and all but the backing and binding fabric from stash.

This top had been finished since last year and was also on my list for last year's Spring Finish challenge. So this was long overdue to get done. My hope at the time was use it as quilt stitch practice and since that goal is the same this year, I still got to do that. I did freehand Fans (on my DSM) for the first time. A great all over fill (that's why it's a classic stitch pattern) and not that hard but I will say that if I use it again, I need to use a smaller repeat -- I used an 8" repeat which made it hard to keep the arcs evenly curved and spaced as they got to the larger half rounds.

Quilting Detail

The other thing I got done this week was to make the blocks promised for the Bumble Beans Basics House Gather. I thought this would be a simple block to do so I didn't rush even as the deadline (April 30th) was looming. Well, it's a good thing Victoria posted that she will still be accepting blocks even after the deadline (the deadline is for a chance at a give-away) since these took me waaayyy longer to do than expected. I seemed to have a complete block (no pun intended) when it came to doing these. The first block I did was 1/4" too narrow (they are supposed to finish 10-1/2" square). I made adustments to some of the cutting specs but still managed to sew the next block too small, sewed parts together wrong or decided to change elements at the last minute. I wanted to do ten blocks but I admit I reached the limit of my perseverence, so will mail these five out tomorrow. The good news is that these blocks, along with those submitted by others, will be made into quilts that will be donated to a housing charity in my borough (which is why I refused to completely give up although I was tempted to many, many times). The other good news is that she is arranging with the organization she is working with to agree to accept completed quilts for future donations (for details see here) and I have a top and back ready that I hope to quilt and donate.

The three other blocks I made that "weren't quite right" went into my "Orphan Block Bag" so will one day become part of a scrap quilt or journal cover and won't go to waste!

So for next week I need to.....

Finish the quilting on the Vintage Treasures BOM, get the clamshell binding made and finish the quilt.
Work on four UGRR/Pioneer blocks (two from each).
Try, once again, to work on two Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks.
Restart my sons on sewing strings together for their "Denim Blue Lagoon" quilts and cut string pieced and denim triangles for the blocks.

And when you are finished here, check out what everyone else has planned for the coming week at Bari's Quilter's Accountability Report --- or even better post your own!

Quilters Accountability 4/21/10

2010-04-21T18:43:00.000-04:00

Well, as promised I'm posting to Bari's "Quilter's Accountability" linky. I have lurked the site before and admired the fortitude of everyone who has posted each week. I'm hoping to gain some of that resolve -- I signed up for Jacqui's "Spring to Finish" challenge again this year and this time I'd like to make the FIRST deadline since last year it took until the SECOND deadline for me to get anything done! We have six weeks (until May 31) to finish whatever UFOs, pending projects or interesting "new loves" we wish to get completed. I know that keeping a weekly "To Do" list will help this process and perhaps insure that I will have something to show when we hit the May 10 halfway check-in.

Ironically, the first project I am working on is one that was on my list last year! It is the quilt that I made when Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times had her first Stashbuster Quilt-A-Long (the quilt design is now called "Out of the Bag" and is posted on her site here). It was also my introduction to blogging since you needed to post your finish to participate in a finishers giveaway. The quilt has been layered since last year so I'm hoping this week to get the quilting done. This was originally meant to be a project to practice my quilt stitching so I am finally getting to do that by trying my hand at free-form Baptist Fans.

So my goal list for the next week is as follows:

Finish quilting and bind the Stashbuster Quilt.
Make up the blocks promised for Victoria's House Gather -- the deadline is April 30 so got to get moving on those.
Work on at least two UGRR/Pioneer blocks (one from each).
Work on two Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks (might be a long shot).
If I get the Stashbuster done as quickly as I hope, continue the quilting on the Vintage Treasures BOM and (maybe?) have the quilting completed by the next post.

I'm already feeling like there will be finishes this Spring!

Joining the Spring To Finish

2010-04-20T07:26:00.001-04:00

Jacqui at Tallgrass Prairie Studio posted the deadlines and rules for this year's "Spring To Finish" challenge yesterday. I'm joining in again this year. The deadline is May 31 (six weeks). My goals are loose: the main goal is to try to get at least half of the things on the list below completed - anything more will be gravy. Jacqui has scheduled a mid way check-in on May 10 so I'll need to post for that. In addition, I've lurked on the weekly "Quilter's Accountibility" Linky hosted by Bari but never posted to it because I really didn't trust myself to make the weekly goals. But with this challenge, the need to stay on track weekly is even stronger so, I may also try to post weekly to the Accountability list in another effort to stay on track for the Spring Finish (double the pressure, double the "git 'ur done"!).

So the things I'd most like to get done would be:

the first three "To Be Quilted" (TBQs) projects on my flimsie list on the sidebar.
finish the Dino Sports 2 and Crumb quilt projects on my flimsie list.
finish the Denim Blue Lagoons quilts on the WIP list
finish the blocks for the UGRR/Pioneer and DWR projects on the WIP list
work on the Pistachio SBS blocks (on the WIP list) weekly (so hopefully it will be habit by the end of the "Spring To Finish".

Jacqui hopes to have a prize lottery for finishers but we are encouraged to reward ourselves as well. I already know mine: I had already decided to hold off on two new purchases until June but if I can meet the my goal (remember, just half!), I might in indulge in those purchases early. In any case, the Spring Finish ends just as June starts so it's just one more incentive to focus on building up my budget til then anyway.

My Quilting Bucket List

2010-04-18T09:00:00.017-04:00

I love that all quilters tend to do and think about the same things even when we don't know each other. Last year, I read posts by Pam at the "Knitnoid" blog (note: the link is for her old blog on Blogger, her new blog is on Wordpress) and Jen at "A Quilting Jewel" about what quilts or techniques they have on that "list of quilts I want to/always wanted to make". Most of the quilts on their lists were also on mine. Now, we are not talking about the "latest love" projects -- these are the quilts you feel you must make to "really be considered a quilter". Of course, as we progress as quilters, things get added to the list as we become more confident about what we actually can accomplish. After reading those posts I did a quick review of the quilts I've said I wanted to make since I started quilting and was surprised to find that many have already been done. So here is a pictorial review of the Bucket List items I've already accomplished:

Irish Chain

This quilt is Eleanor Burn's "Quilt In A Day" version called "Bits 'N Pieces". I finished this in 2008 and it was also my first bed sized quilt. I've always been attracted to the Irish Chain design and have seen many variations involving using two to four different blocks (one version called for some of the squares to be appliqued on!) to achieve the chain design. I was attracted to this particular version because it only required one block (!) and the block was completely strip pieced which made them easy to construct. I really like this design and hope to make another one in a three color format with a seminole border, a design I saw in an old issue of QUILT Magazine.

Amish Quilt and Trip Around the World

Sorry For Picture Quality: For Some Reason This Picture Got Stretched Out in the Upload

Like many people, Amish quilts astounded me when I first heard about/saw them. They seemed so simple yet were so graphic. Also one of the things I've learned about my own quilt color preferences: since I started quilting I've always been attracted to "shaded" color tones (colors mixed with black) so the darker pallettes of Amish quilts also were a big draw for me. My first in depth introduction to Amish quilts was Rachel Pellman's book "The World of Amish Quilts". The "Trip Around The World" quilts in that book (especially the cover quilt) were beautiful in the way the colors in some of them radiated. Another reason I began quilting was when watching the old "Simply Quilts" episodes on HGTV, I learned from the beginning that there were shortcuts galore to achieving many "old-time" block patterns and I was always facinated by that. When I realized that "Trip" quilts could be strip pieced, it immediately became one of the must do's. I also love when one project can check off two things on the Bucket List. This was made in 2006.

Log Cabin (Courthouse Steps Variation) and Minature Quilts

Once again an old picture that got messed up in the Upload.

Although I like all the variations of Log Cabins and do hope to make a few, doing a log cabin was not a must do until I saw a quilt done in this "Courthouse Steps" Log Cabin variation. I was intrigued about how the little lantern like shapes were formed and when I found out (careful placement of colors in adjacent log cabin blocks), I really wanted to make one. I finally did after my mother died and I took possession of a Featherweight machine that had been her boyfriend's (a tailor) who had died two years before her (and unfortunately I never got to have a conversation with her before she died about why she had it since she did not sew). I had always dreamed of creating a sewing themed display in my quilt space and I was able to do so when I got the machine. When I put the display together, I immediately realized that the machine would look even better with a quilt displayed on it (the old iron belonged to my great-grandmother). After long debates about what would look good hanging on it when only about half the quilt would show, I saw an antique doll quilt made in this style hung from a shelf the way I planned to display a quilt from the machine. BINGO! When I measured the machine, I determined that I only needed a quilt about 12" square for this. So this also became my first minature quilt even though making one was not, per se, a must do for me. This was made in 2006.

Strippy and Flying Geese Quilts

The details on this one were covered in this recent post so a picture here will have to be worth a thousand words! This was another "two for one" on the Bucket List count down.

Bargello

Once again, sorry for picture quality, these are pictures of pictures taken BD, before digital

This little project was made in 2004 as a gift for a friend. It comes from Kim Ritter's "Quick Quilting" book. I do hope to do a larger bargello project in the future and recently bought this book when Connecting Threads had a sale earlier this year. But this gave me a nice taste of it and come to think of it, it was my first experience quilting clamshells.

Feathered Star

This was made in 2003. I saw Marsha McClosky on "Simply Quilts" and she demonstrated the Radiant Star block. It looked to me to be one of those blocks that looked a lot harder than it was to make. This is the "Joining Star" from her book "Feathered Star Quilts" a book that was really tough to get. This was one of the easier blocks in the book (they are rated one, two and three stars for difficulty) and I was nervous about making it until putting it together. Accurate cutting is the key -- if you cut right, the construction is a breeze. I orginally made this to be a one-block wallhanging and hung it to go above a bookcase but then I wound up putting a chair where the bookcase was supposed to be so I added the bead fringe to fill in the blank space that was the difference in the heights of the two furniture pieces. This was also a chance to try the "focus fabric color scheme" theory about choosing quilt colors, something that was a big concern for me back then. All the colors in the center were picked out from the fabric in the prairie point border (and making those was also a first!). I hope to make a whole quilt of Feathered Stars and just this week purchased a set of Marti Michel's templates that were on sale at Keepsake Quilting (less than half price!) and also hope to get Marsha's new ruler in the future as well.

So those are the Bucket List quilts I have done or at least "tasted". But there are still some I haven't tackled (or at least finished) yet:

Double Wedding Ring (in progress and blogged about here)
String Quilt (also in progress and blogged about in the same post as the DWR above)
Lone Star Quilt (I have fabric already purchased for two different versions and had considered doing one for the Liberated Amish Challenge but I don't think that will happen)
Dresden Plate quilt (already have fabric for one to be done in Civil War Repros)
A "complex" Applique Quilt (I've done a few simple appliques but a really complex one is still in the "dreaming of" stage)
A Baltimore Album quilt (currently in the "collecting ideas and designs" stage)
....and the mother of them all -- to do a white whole cloth quilt to be quilted BY HAND! I do have a quilt-as-you-go hand quilting project in process but I think doing the wholecloth is still many years away.

So there you have it, my Bucket List. So of course, I ask you, what's on your list?

Flannel Series Finale (For Now)

2010-04-17T01:21:00.020-04:00

So this is the latest installment of the "Flannel Series" and the second finish for 2010. As I noted in the previous post, this was one of two kits I got an email about from Keepsake Quilting. It's called "Triangle Trips" and was designed by Keri Nichols of Mountainpeek Creations. As I've said (too many times) before, I love flannel quilts and the first one I made (blogged about here) was made to be a couch snuggle but once I finished it and used it, I would not let it leave my bed! The problem was since it was only lap sized, if both my DH and I tried to use it together, a tug of war ensued. So when this kit came out and it was a generous 84" x 84", I knew I had to make it. The more masculine colors were an attraction too -- with all the quilts and flower arrangements I already have in our bedroom, I'm always looking to add a little something that the DH can relate to. I also have to admit that being on what's supposed to be a restrained quilting budget, I am a lot more happy to buy a kit that's bed-sized than one that's lap-sized given the fact that the cost of both tend to be almost the same.

This one was started in January while I was house sitting for my cousin while her house was undergoing an energy audit. Over two days, while workers examined her home's exterior, windows, walls, insulation and appliances and evaluated them for energy efficiency, I cut all the fabric into squares to make the triangle squares and the outer border and then sewed all the triangle pairs together. Back home I laid them out on the bed to organize the layout then sewed up the top. As always once I had the top done it was a long while before I set out to quilt it.

I wasn't sure how I wanted it quilted since I wanted the color rounds to remain the focus and preferred an all-over stitch design in order to get the quilting done fast. My original choice was just to do straight lines but I was afraid that would be too boring. The woodsy colors tempted me to consider doing a pictorial scene across the quilt with a river and mountain peaks, forest animals and a campsite scene but at this stage of my quilting skills, I knew that was an ambitious project that I would likely procrastinate on if I tried to tackle it. Eventually, I came across a "pebble" design at Leah Day's blog "365 Days of Free Motion Quilting". Eliminating the "stream" portion of it, this was a perfect union of something within my immediate abilities that I felt also spoke to the colors and feel of the quilt. A picture of the quilting detail and the backing fabric are below:

The quilting took me longer than expected and I wound up using a lot more thread than anticipated but it gives good texture and a rugged look to the quilt. Once again, the backing fabric was a brushed cotton courtesy of AAA Quilters Supply. My name for the quilt is "Manly Yes, But I Like It Too!" since the back is a flowery contrast to the front (and those of you old enough will remember that as the tag line of the Old Spice commercials from the seventies). I really felt that all this quilting did a lot to improve my control when doing free motion and I am encouraged to get moving on the rest of the quilts I have basted from last year.

And a bit of quilting serendipity happened too. Just as I finished the work on this, I thought again about how I still needed more guidance on choosing the quilt stitches for my projects. A long time ago, I had put Lee Cleland's "Quilting Makes The Quilt" on my Amazon wish list. Although the book is over ten years old, even used copies of it have always sold at a premium price. Checking in, as luck would have it, someone offered a copy for about $10. Needless to say I snatched it up! When it came, I have to say it is a real education in how different choices of stitches and their placement on the top can really effect the look of a quilt. In the book, Lee quilts the same quilt five different ways (and at the time, made all the tops herself in order to prepare them for the quilting!) to show the different ways to organize the stitching on various quilt tops. It turned out to be a great companion to another book I bought last year, Christine Maraccini's "Machine Quilting Solutions", a more recent book that takes the same approach -- quilting the same quilt three different ways to consider how the quilt stitches chosen and their placement affect the finished project. Lee is also profiled in another of my favorite quilt books (a must purchase after I read it at the library) "Celebrating Traditions: Quiltmakers in Australia".

The good news is that Jacqui at Tallgrass Prairie Studio is gearing up to host another "Spring Finish" quilt-a-long this year. Maybe participating in that will further motivate me to get to all the quilting I need to do. Also I must get to the House Blocks I promised to do for Victoria's "House Gather" that she will be making into quilts for charity. The deadline is April 30th so there is till time if you'd also like to contribute blocks. And as promised in the last post I hope to get back here soon with some ruminations on my quilting "Bucket List". Whew! A lot to do! Thanks for stopping by!

The Flannel Series Continued

2010-04-17T01:16:00.035-04:00

Last week I finished my second finish for 2010 and the latest quilt in the "Flannel Series", so as promised in my last post, I wanted to give the details for both projects. First up is the finished quilt pictured in that post.

It's called "Flying For Cover". I learned about it when Keepsake Quilting sent me an email last October about projects using flannel. This was one of two quilts offered as a kits. I thought it was a gorgeous quilt, loved the fact that it was in flannel and probably most important, would fulfill two "Bucket List" desires. You know, the Bucket List -- the list of quilts you want to make before you "kick the bucket". While I plan to do another post about that later, I will say that the two quilts this satisfied for me was doing a strippy quilt and doing a quilt with (a lot of) Flying Geese. I wasn't able to purchase the actual kit for this though -- at the time I wanted it Keepsake had it on back order for quite awhile. I was able to find the sashing and border fabrics ("Two In The Bush" by Bonnie Sullivan for Maywood Studios) at EQuilter.com and the flannel tone-on-tones at Fabric.com and then bought the pattern at Keepsake (which was also sold separately from the kit but also can be purchased from the pattern designer's website) and put together my own "kit". The backing fabric came from AAA Quilters Supply another favorite Internet vendor.

Most of the time when I make a quilt, I am also looking to try new techniques. In this case doing the Flying Geese allowed me to finally get a chance to use what I call "Eleanor Burn's Two Squares" method of making them. I saw her demonstrate this when she did the "Pioneer Sampler" and the "Underground Railroad Sampler" on her Quilt In A Day TV shows. If you've never seen her technique check out Mary's post on this blog or go to the Quilt In A Day channel on Quilters TV.com and watch any of the Pioneer Sampler episodes or any other episodes using the "Triangle Pieced Rectangle" method. Although the finished units can be squared up with a regular ruler, I knew if I ever did a project with a lot of flying geese, using hers would be easier but I hated the fact that you needed a different ruler (sold separately) for each different size geese (actually each ruler makes two sizes). I resisted buying them until I was able to get her Mini Ruler set on sale. Unfortunately the mini set didn't make the size needed for this pattern so I wound up also buying the Jumbo set. Once I started making them, I was hooked (it's such an efficient method) and then wanted all the rulers which I wound up buying before I finished this project! Prior to this my favorite method was the "five squares" method demonstrated here but now this is my favorite.

Another technique I got to try was Sharon Schamber's hand basting technique. You can watch videos of it here and here. It was really easy to do although I disagree with her that it's any faster than pin basting. She says you can baste any size quilt like this but note that to do a large quilt like a queen or king size will require a couple of long tables to hold the whole top stretched out end to end. However for this lap size quilt, my cutting table accommodated it just fine.

This method worked really well, in the end I had no puckers on the back and as she notes in her demo it was very easy to remove the basting stitches as I quilted. While I won't give up pin basting (I baste on my cutting table so physically it is not hard), I definitely would use this technique again as well.

The finished quilt was quilted in a clamshell pattern. I got that idea from the pattern designer Janet Locey of Henscratch Quilting. In the picture of the quilt on her website, that was what she used and I felt it was doable. While I have always quilted my own quilts, I am not always confident about doing it before I start. I started out with the plan to use templates printed on sticky-backed full sheet labels as instructed in the book "One Line At A Time" by Charlotte Warr Anderson, one of the many quilt stitch books I invested in last year. But after doing two rows across the quilt I felt confident enough to finish the rest of the quilt freehand. I can't say the clamshells were all even but in the end, the texture on the quilt looked real good.

In the next post I'll detail the latest installment of the Flannel Series.

Design Wall Monday - Long Overdue

2010-03-29T18:27:00.007-04:00

Forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been three months since my last blog post!

So I figured there is no better way to get back in the loop than to post to Judy's Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. A big Thank You to all of you who have faithfully posted your Design Walls since the start of this year. I lurked, commented and you kept me inspired to keep sewing even when not blogging.

Here is what is on my design wall right now:

They are blocks from Eleanor's Burn's Quilt in A Day "Pioneer Sampler" (top set) and "Underground Railroad Sampler" (bottom set) which I started in early February. The Pioneer Sampler series was the first QIAD televsion show series that I saw and like many I was immediately charmed by Eleanor's style and how she simplified block designs and became an immediate fan. I am glad it's still possible to see episodes of her shows on the 'net at QuiltersTV (free) and Quilters News Network (with QCA membership) since they no longer appear on my local PBS stations.

I have long wanted to do both of these samplers and my plan is to ultimately put them "back to back" as a reversible quilt. While I always knew about each of these movements in US history, I never took serious note of the dates they occurred, so the fact that the drama of slavery which was a defining factor in the Civil War and the westward Pioneer movement were all happening around the same time only became evident to me as a result of becoming interested in these projects. Both movements represent a flight to a freer life and a hope for future prosperity. I am doing the blocks in Civil War repros and have four more blocks to do on each. Two other quilter friends are also working on the UGRR sampler so it will be fun when we all get our blocks done and compare notes. For those of you who have done either of these before, I am doing them as 6" finished blocks which means resizing the Pioneer blocks since they were originally published only in 12" finished size.

This was not the only thing I have been working on. I did complete my first finish for 2010, "Flying For Cover" started back in November and finished earlier this month:

And "Triangle Trips" was begun at the beginning of this year and is now on the table for quilting:

These two quilts are the latest installments of what I am now calling my "Flannel Series", the first of which was blogged about here for the first Bloggers Quilt Festival. I promise I will return with more details on both when I (hopefully) finish the "Trips" quilt later this week. Both were originally offered as kits at Keepsake Quilting but the link for "Flying" is to the website of the pattern designer (although the pattern is also still available from Keepsake).

So keep on surfing and go see all the good quilty projects on Design Walls all over the world at Judy's Patchwork Times!