Monday, February 22, 2021

Goal Reached


Well it's been quite a month. I set my OMG for February on the 3rd and by that date already had 10 blocks for the project done. I heard from my friend Laura Cootsona, director of the Jesus Center in Chico, CA about the need for hand made quilts for the expansion of the Jesus Center on January 23rd.  On January 25th we had a zoom meeting to discuss the project. I believe I started the quilt on February 2nd. I finished it today. That's record time for me! A twin size quilt from start to finish in less than one month. Of course that also meant that was all I worked on during that time, with one exception which I will discuss below. 

The pattern I used was Lauri Simpson's 9-Patch Block, which was #8 for Moda's Block Head's 3 for 2020. I used mostly scraps and stash fabric, but did have to make a few fabric purchases to complete the blocks. I chose teal, pink, blue, and purple, and made 10 - 12" blocks of each color. I began with the teal blocks. One of the purchased fabrics was for the center of each block. I found a fabric that had each of the four colors I had chosen in a little floral pattern on a white ground, to pull them all together. 



The next set of blocks were the pinks. Getting 10 blocks done went rather quickly because I was chain piecing. It actually took far more time to find enough fabric from my stash and scraps of the right value in the chosen color. I had to purchase a dark pink for the four square units in the pink blocks. I also needed a light blue and a dark purple to complete the various sections. What was interesting to me was how different the blocks of two different colors looked when lined up next to each other on the design wall. The teal and pink blocks looked like I had used different patterns. I wondered at this point in the process if I had made a mistake in choosing to use only a single block pattern. 






I made the blue blocks next, and then the purple ones - they didn't look so different from each other as the teal and pink had. But I knew they were not going to look very good if I kept them in single color sections and just lined them up across the quilt.  So it was off to the bedroom floor since the design wall was taken up with another project. 








So I chose a pretty simple layout and am quite happy with it. Five blocks across and eight rows down made a 60" by 96" top. It's for a twin bed, I didn't add a border. Once the layout was decided on connecting the blocks and sewing the rows together went pretty quickly. I wished however that I had a leader/ender project ready to go when I made this since it was all chain piecing and I could have gotten a long way on another project if I'd had one ready. 






I had decided against doing more large quilts but this was a special project so I went ahead with it anyway. It wasn't as large as the queen size Magic Stars quilt I did last year, so was a little more manageable. However I knew that the layout of my sewing room would make the marking, layering, and quilting difficult. So last Saturday I did a major room rearrangement. This photo shows the original arrangement. The table with the quilting machine facing the window but on the far side of the room with very little room between my chair and the closet doors behind me. Tables had to be moved to support the quilt and all the stuff kept on the cutting tables and the pressing mat on the pressing tables had to be moved. It was a big chore every time I needed to do marking, basting, and quilting. 


I kept seeing on Pinterest craft rooms and quilting studios that had large square tables in the center of the room with lots of space around them and wondered if I could make that kind of arrangement work. It would mean moving my quilting machine to the table in front of the window and moving the large shelf unit to the far side of the room. You can see I made quite a mess getting the shelf and cabinet emptied so they could be moved. It took pretty much all day. Dan helped with the movement of large pieces and I did the rest. I knew right away that the four tables in the middle of the room would be far more functional for me in that arrangement but wondered how the quilting was going to work with the machine against the wall in front of the window. 




The tables I have are from Dan's mom's art studio. I knew when we had the estate sale of her things that many people would be interested in her tables, because she taught art classes on them for many years and her students were the people who came to the sale. But, I also knew that they would work perfectly for my sewing room so I kept them all. I have six of them in the sewing room. They are the perfect height and their size means they can be easily rearranged as needed. I have just enough room in the sewing room to line four of them up in a row if I need to baste a large quilt, and did that for the Magic Stars quilt. I'm so thankful to have them. The new layout is to have four in the center of the room, two for my cutting mats and two for my pressing table. There is plenty of room all the way around the tables so movement around the room is much simpler than it was in the original layout. Also all my cutting tools are right there on the shelf behind the tables so I don't have to keep those things on the tables anymore. They are always within easy reach.


The other two tables are now up against the outer wall facing the canyon, with the quilting machine in front of the window. It works so much better than the former arrangement! The quilt can't fall off the end of the table because it runs up against the wall and the window. It's made doing the quilting so much easier. I didn't need to move my sewing desk where I do my piecing on my Bernina, it's been in the perfect spot all along. I can see right along the canyon and down into the valley right from my sewing chair. It's such a lovely sight every time I look up from my sewing. 



Well, my rearrangement took a whole day and nothing got done on the quilt that day, but I'm sure the improvement in the layout saved me at least that much time during marking, basting, and quilting.  Anyway, the quilt got done and my One Monthly Goal for February was reached. 










I am linking up with:

Patty of Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal

Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap

Judy of Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday


Thanks for stopping by and reading. Have a lovely week! 



Thursday, February 4, 2021

February One Monthly Goal

I love to read and for many years would read four or five books at a time. I don't read nearly as often or as much these days but have numerous quilting projects going at one time in place of the books. One book I did read recently is Confessions of X by Suzanne M. Wolfe. If you are familiar at all with the life of St. Augustine this may be of interest. It's a novel, not about Augustine but about the life of his Concubine, so of course Augustine is present almost throughout. It's fiction of course, and a great story beautifully written. I'm going to be reading more of the author's work soon. 

Now on to the numerous projects in the sewing room. There is the making of Peppermint Patty quilt blocks, the string quilt applique project, the Charm Square Heart quilt, and beginning experiments with foundation paper piecing a Storm at Sea quilt. There are more waiting in project boxes to be cut and pieced and a few hanging in the closet waiting to be layered and quilted. So many options to choose from when I go to the sewing room to work. 

However, they are all on hold now. My One Monthly goal for February is to get a new project done - all the way done, complete. I'm using Alternate Block 8 from Moda Block Heads 3 by Laurie Simpson for my pattern and making 12" blocks. The blocks on the design wall are the beginning of the first section of the quilt. I have three sections to go and want to have the blocks completed before I make the final design decision. The other three sections will be one each of pink, blue, and purple. This is a donation quilt. I've given away many quilts in my time, though to this point all to family members. This is my first donation quilt. If you are interested the information about the local non-profit I'm donating to is below. 

I received a request last week from my dear friend Laura for help with getting quilts made for the expansion of the Jesus Center in Chico, CA. Laura is the director of this local non-profit that helps the underserved and homeless of our community. The Jesus Center has long had a shelter for women called the Sabbath House. They are now in the process of moving and expanding their facility to include shelter space for men as well. There will soon be 35 beds for women and 25 beds for men. The projected date for opening the new faciltiy is April 1st. Laura is hoping for at least 20 new quilts by the opening. I can make one, maybe two. If you are interested in finding out more about the Jesus Center click here to go to their web site. They serve our community in so many ways beyond offering meals and shelter. If you are interested in helping Laura get quilts for the shelter beds please let me know in the comment section below and I will contact you with details about the project. 

I'm linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal


Sunday, January 31, 2021

Finally Finished

Well it's taken me long enough but I am finally finished with my little needle book. I don't actually know when I started it, early last year sometime. It's nothing fancy. If I ever do another one I will do it differently, not that I need a fancy one, just a better approach. I didn't have everything I needed to make a normal needle book when I started this one but went ahead and started and went my own way with it, which turned out to be a rather lengthy process that discouraged me. So it's just been sitting undone for a long while. I finally picked it up last week and got it finished. I like the fabrics and the colors, and it works just fine for it's purpose, keeping my needles safely in one place. 


I've made good progress on my pink String Quilt for the OMG for January but it is now the 31st and I didn't make my goal. It's still high on my priority list but will take a bit longer to finish. This is an early picture, I can't show any progress at this point because it's a gift and a surprise so will show pictures when it's been given. It involves applique which I have never done very well. It remains a challenge though the open toe foot I got for my Bernina machine is a being a big help with getting pieces attached. I've also been practicing with the apliquick tools I borrowed from my friend Kathy. They take some getting used to. I don't know if I prefer them to needle turn applique, it's been a long time since I've done any of that so will have to try some and see what I think.

Speaking of needle turn - I pulled a very old project out of the closet this week. My first and only applique project until now. I was talking with Kathy who took the class with me and finished her quilt many years ago. She mentioned that old project and I went got it to show her my few pieces, only to find that I had finished two of the applique panels before I abandoned it. I just might have to see if I can get some work done on it this year.  There is a lot more work to do on this and I don't know if I'll get to it any time soon, but I'm glad to have found that I'm further along than I remembered.

I also pulled down a box that got put at the top of the sewing room closet when we moved in 3 years ago. I had no idea what was in it and was somewhat pleased with what I found. The box contained a partly done dress for me and one for my niece who is now in her twenties - toddler size. The size of the dress I was making for myself is way off for the me I am today as well. The cancer experience has changed me and I weigh far less than I did when I started that dress. I don't even know why those projects got put aside and never finished. I suspect I was in the midst of doing them when we made the move onto Dan's mom's property, into a house of our own. Anyway, I was pleased to find them because the fabric for the dress is beautiful, one I have always loved. It won't be a dress now - I've removed all the seams from the pieces I had managed to get sewn and will be using the fabric for a quilt. I don't have a specific plan in mind just yet, but it will come. There were also other stray bits of lovely fabric in the box that I will find a good use for.  

In addition to the mystery box from the closet, I took a couple of storage boxes out from under the bed. They have been holding other pieces of fabric that I purchased long ago for other clothing projects that I never got to. One piece will work well for a back for my Peppermint Patty quilt. It's an extra wide fabric and I have 5 yards of it! It's been sitting in that box for years. There was also another floral fabric that I love in that box. I'm not sure what I will do with that, but now all the found fabrics are in the closet in my sewing room with my other fabrics.

I thought I was nearly done making blocks for my Peppermint Patty quilt but I made a change in the layout and realized that it meant making more blocks. I spent most of the day Friday cutting pieces for the blocks. I pulled some fabrics from my stash and scrounged through what little is left of my pink scraps to get enough for all the needed blocks. Here they are all stacked and ready to be pieced. My plan is to get at least five of them done a day before starting work on other projects. It should only take me a couple of weeks at that rate to have all the blocks I need. 

I've done a little work this week with my pink scraps. Getting the right size and number of scraps for any one block has been a challenge. Guess I could cut my little bits down to 1.5" pieces to use for a postage stamp quilt but I don't know that I have the determination to tackle a quilt with pieces that small. So I only have these few pink blocks to show for RSC January. The paper pinned up with the blocks shows what a nine patch postage stamp quilt in pink could look like. 

I worked on my crochet lap blanket before sunrise this morning. It's been sitting ignored for several weeks. A couple of rows needed to be pulled out and redone and so it sat. I got it back out this past week and spent several mornings working on it while enjoying my morning coffee. I also spent today and last Sunday working on hand quilting what I've been calling my "purple leaves" quilt. Don't know quite why I've been calling it that because the print on the fabric isn't of leaves at all, it's of feathers. Old age? Chemo brain? Who knows, but I realized last week when I was working on it that I was stitching around feathers, not leaves. Anyway, I'm making some good progress on it and am enjoying the break I'm taking from the sewing room on Sundays. I'm anxious to get this little piece finished so that I can move on to my Floral Log Cabin quilt which is going to take me much longer to finish. 


I hope your quilting adventures take you to happy places this week.

I'm linking up with the following blogs as their linky parties come available: 

I'm linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching

Alycia at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday

Angela at So Scrappy for RSC2021

Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Fredreique at Patchwork and Quilts for Patchwork and Quilts 

Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down

Jennifer at the Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Nina Marie at Creations, Quilts, Art ... for Off the Wall Friday

Patty at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal

Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers







Sunday, January 10, 2021

Second Sunday

Well, here we are at the Second Sunday of January and I've managed to stay out of the sewing room today and focus on hand quilting my Purple Leaves whole cloth quilt. I've finished up the lower parts of the hoop where I was last week and was getting pretty close to the edge of the quilt so have moved the quilt in the frame back toward the center where there are more leaves to stitch not so close to the outside edge. As you can see I'm still in Christmas mode. I think I'll enjoy my tree and decorations for one more week but by next Sunday Christmas should be put away. I will probably keep my Christmas tablecloth on the table, but flip it to the back side. I purposely gave it a backing that I could use when Christmas was over. It still has trees all over it, but it's not so obviously Christmasy. 

I stitched on my little quilt for a few hours this morning and have been resting and doing a few other things this afternoon, but am ready to get back to stitching for a while longer now. When I want to watch TV while I stitch I come out to the couch. The light out here is good and the couch has a fold down section where I can very conveniently put all my tools, tea, and snacks. It's a pretty comfortable place to work. The fireplace is nearby too, so the room stays cozy on these cold dreary days. That's my kitty Nigel laying up against the wall - sorry he's a little fuzzy in the picture. 

I don't know how many Sunday's in a row I'll manage to stick to my plan to spend them hand quilting but I'm off to a good start. Ha! Two weeks. 😊 

Well, I hope you are having a good start to your week. Stay safe and Healthy! 

I'm linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching


Friday, January 8, 2021

In the Pink


January's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Pink and I've been doing quite a bit in pink this week. I found a pattern from Moda Block Heads 3 from last year that I will be using for some of my Rainbow blocks this year. I pulled out my pink scraps and put together 3 blocks on Saturday last weekend. I'm afraid that's all the pink blocks I'm going to get in that pattern because I have insufficient scraps to cover the need for dark, medium, light, and pale pieces in each block. So I've pulled another pattern from Block Heads 3 and will be making a few of those in pink tomorrow. 


I've also been working a little bit each day on my Peppermint Patty quilt blocks. This is a quilt I started years ago when I learned about doing paper piecing with freezer paper. I had done a couple of paper pieced quilts previously using regular printer paper and had a horrible time getting the paper removed. The thought of not having to sew through the paper at all was intriguing to me so I jumped into a new project and got quite a bit of it done pretty quickly. Then life happened and it got put on the shelf, and that's where it's been for years. 


Today I finished my Snowflake quilt top.  I chose to use the alternate pattern for block 4 that designed the center rows on the diagonal instead of straight across as in the original pattern. Not having done that sort of piecing before made for a challenging learning experience. I also wanted to extend the borders so it would fit my kitchen table. I wanted the outer border to be solid blue, but I didn't have enough blue left. I did have some extra rows of blue and white sewn together because I had misunderstood the alternate pattern and thought I needed more that I actually did. That turned out to be a good thing. I knew I didn't want an all white border but wasn't sure how I was going to get the blue in there when there wasn't much left. While browsing through Pinterest, I saw a quilt that had borders with some small squares of color placed in the midst of the solid border. It looked nice and gave me the idea to use the extra pieced strip sets to make 2" blocks in blue and white and put them in the borders. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

After finishing the Snowflake quilt I set about cleaning up the tables that had a bunch of fabrics and lots of scraps piled up all over them. I sorted through what was there and either folded the fabric up to put it in my stash or piled it into my colored scrap bins. What I was left with were several pieces of the extra fabric strips that had been cut on the diagonal for the center blocks before I realized I didn't need them. I played around with putting them together in different pattens and came up with some diamonds. Those were also a challenge because I've just not done sewing on the diagonal like that before. After messing up the first one I figured out a way to get them lined up correctly so I could get nice points that came together as they should. They are on the design wall now beside the snowflake quilt. I think I'll use them to make a runner for the top of my china cabinet. 

That's about all I managed this week. I have other projects to get to so won't be layering or quilting the snowflake quilt this month, though I did purchase the batting and fabric for the back of it. There isn't any blue in the backing fabric, but the snowflakes all over it keep to the theme nicely. 

My One Monthly Goal for January is to finish my string quilt and I started doing a little bit toward that finish today, but I have quite a way to go on that one. I'm playing with Apliquick tools I borrowed from my good friend Kathy. I've only done a little bit but they seem to be promising to work better than needle turn for me. 

Stay safe and well. I hope you have a fun and productive weekend. 



I'm linking up with the following blogs as their linky parties come available.

Alycia at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday

Angela at So Scrappy for RSC2021

Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Fredreique at Patchwork and Quilts for Patchwork and Quilts #34

Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down

Jennifer at the Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Nina Marie at Creations, Quilts, Art ... for Off the Wall Friday

Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers



Sunday, January 3, 2021

Slow Down Sunday

Hello 2021, am I happy to see you! Just a quick post today. I wrote a rather lengthy post on the 31st, a review of the good things in my life in 2020. It also covers quilts I finished at the end of 2020 and more of my quilting plans for 2021. You can find that post here. I realized after posting it though that I had left out one of the very best things that happened for me in 2020.  My birthday/Christmas gift from my husband, Dan. 


It's a beautiful hand made Amish hand quilting frame. One of the lovely things about it is that I can use it anywhere in the house, so today I'm in the living room in front of the fireplace and the TV, that I can watch while I stitch. I've not used it a lot since it's arrival in October because other projects I needed to finish were taking my time. However, I want to make a commitment this year to try to finish the two hand quilting projects that I have partly done. They have both been in the works for many years and it's time to get them done. Setting aside Sunday for slow stitching also gives me the chance to slow down and rest from all the activity going on in the sewing room during the rest of the week. 


The first project I want to finish is my Purple Leaves quilt, it's a small table cover. I loved the fabric so much I couldn't bear to cut it up so decided to make a whole cloth quilt of it. It's much smaller that the other and is on the frame and getting some attention today. 


The other is my queen size Floral Log Cabin quilt that could easily take a year to get quilted even with a commitment to work on it one day a week this year. I've thought for some time now that setting Sunday aside for hand work was a good idea, I just didn't do it. I'm not good at New Year's resolutions but think making such a commitment is about the only way I'm actually going to accomplish the quilting on these pieces. 

I hope this New Year finds you well and happy with lots of fun quilting adventures for the coming months. 


I'm linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Goodby 2020

The year is nearly over and as someone recently said - good riddance. Only part of me feels that way. In this post I want to focus on the good things in my life that happened in 2020.

In January I discovered the world of quilt blogging and it has had a huge impact on me. I have learned so much from other quilt bloggers over the past year it's significantly improved my quilting life. I made the discovery through The Quilt Show, specifically their show which featured Barbara Black. I visited her blog, and then checked out the blogs she follows, and then the blogs they follow, etc. I was blown away and so excited to discover that there was a whole world of quilting bloggers out there. 


In February I started my own blog. I had been thinking about doing a quilting blog for several years and once I found that expansive world of quilting bloggers out there I just had to join in. I love sharing what I'm doing in the sewing room with others who are also quilting and want to share what's going on in their sewing rooms. By the end of the month I had chosen to stay home except for going out for necessary things, mostly groceries, because of the pandemic. My choice to do so came before any official lock down in our area of California and was due to the fact that I was still recovering from cancer treatment that I went through in 2019. I had retired because of the cancer and with the necessity of staying home I had far more time to sew than I'd had in a very long time.  I think having a sewing room and plenty of projects to work on kept me sane through this challenging year.


I've never been the sort of person to make New Year's resolutions, mostly because I simply can't keep them. I'm too easily distracted to stay the course with any one plan for a whole day, let alone a whole year. So there was no plan for what I wanted to accomplish in the sewing room in 2020. I found Patty of Elm Street Quilts and her One Monthly Goal linky party early on in the year and joined in for several months. But I lost track of that and just didn't keep up, though I kept on sewing. The months I did join in however, and actually reached my goal were very satisfying. 

Whatever I come up with for a plan, or a list of goals to accomplish in 2021, I know they will include lots of time in the sewing room. I have ongoing projects, projects that have been ripening on the shelf, fabrics pulled for projects I have planned but not started, and ideas for quilts I'd like to make someday. I'd like to get to a place where my blog posts are more consistent. I want to learn more sewing techniques, improve my machine quilting, and spend more time hand quilting. A whole year will not be long enough. 



Joining in with several linky parties and seeing what other quilters are doing brought new ideas, new tips and techniques for me to try, and new patterns - lots of new patterns, some with tutorials. I found Moda's Block Heads 3 and though I've not participated in their sew along I've saved the patterns and have used a couple of them in little projects of my own. I also came across the notion of "Squirrel" a project that grabs your attention away from things you would be doing otherwise. This little gem was a very insistent and fun squirrel to chase for a few days this year. It is made from Moda's Block Heads 3 pattern Taos by Vanessa Goertzen. I made it entirely from scraps and love the way it turned out. 

It was Angela at So Scrappy who introduced me to the world of scrap quilters and the fantastically beautiful quilts that have been made just from scraps, something I simply could not have imagined possible. Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge motivated me to get my scraps organized so they would be usefully available and it's been a huge improvement in my sewing room and in my ability to actually use my scraps. I've worked with fabric scraps for years without having any kind of plan to use up my scraps. I was just using what I had. This year I actually planned and have nearly completed a small quilt made entirely from scraps - my little string quilt. This quilt has a fun story that I will tell in a later post. I have a little more planned for this quilt but it's a surprise so will say no more now and will share the story when it's no longer a surprise. 

I've enjoyed very much being able to share my blog posts through numerous linky parties. I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to start one of my own. So I've been kicking around various ideas for what might make a good linky party that's not already out there, and I think I've finally arrived at one that would work. So part of what I would like to accomplish in 2021 is to figure out how to set up and maintain a linky party of my own. I will write more about that if and when I manage to figure out how to get one launched. The photo has something to do with my idea, more about that if I get it launched. 

One of the patterns that caught my attention this year was posted with a tutorial by Joy of The Joyful Quilter - the Magic Stars pattern. It's taken up a big portion of my time in the sewing room this year because I chose to make a queen size quilt and then a lap size quilt with the fabric left over from the queen size. I got to add both of those quilts to my 2020 finished projects list. I finished the the queen size quilt on my birthday in November and the small one last week. 





The small one was especially satisfying because it was the first leader/ender project I'd ever tried. When I started blogging I'd never heard of such a thing but read so many blog posts that mentioned it I finally went looking and found Bonnie Hunter and her tutorial explaining what it was and how to do it. What a gift. In a way it felt like my small Magic Stars quilt did come about by magic - because it got pieced so quickly while I was focused on getting other things done. 

I also made a pillow for my niece Abigail from one of the Magic Stars blocks that just didn't fit into the original quilt. The colors were off, but the fabrics were perfect to go with the quilt I gave Abby for her birthday. It is the first time I've made a pillow with a zipper instead of an overlap backing. It was a good learning experience. 








I finished the Stars bed pillow cover to go with the Magic Stars quilt. Different stars than those in the quilt but they look good together. The cats love it and sleep on it often. I made it to keep them off the pillows. 


One of the other things I did this year was join in my very first sew along. It was Pat Sloan's "Cozy".  I joined because it was just one block a week for only 9 weeks and I thought maybe I could actually accomplish that. And I did - all 9 blocks are made. There are still setting blocks to do and then getting it all put together. Just this week I found the fabric at our lqs to use for those setting blocks and to tie it all together. I have so many other projects in progress and ideas for quilts I want to do that I probably won't be doing another sew-a-long this year. 

The funny exception to that is the Jelly Snowflake quilt that I'm currently working on. The sew-a-long from the Fat Quarter Shop is long over but I've seen so many pretty photos of the completed quilts that I decided to make one too. I hope to have the top completed by Monday. It's all in blue and white, just two fabrics, and I'd like to have it as a tablecloth for January, but we'll see if that is a realistic goal. Snow still works for February right? I don't have a valentines quilt so snowflakes should work. 

If you would like to check out the pattern, you can find it along with a YouTube tutorial from Fat Quarter Shop here.



Another 2020 finish is a Christmas runner for my kitchen china cabinet from fabrics left over from the Christmas table cloth I made last January. I quilted the tablecloth for the Christmas in July Blog Hop hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. My first Blog Hop, and I hope to join in to the same again this year. I have a couple of quilts in mind I would like to have ready for next Christmas. Having the two completed Christmas quilts has helped make my home a little more festive this year, which was good for me since we did stay home and have Christmas alone this year.

That brings me down to the year's end. I've been thinking about what I would like to accomplish in the quilting room in 2021. Though I mentioned previously that I am no good at following plans - especially plans that extend for a year - I think it is a good idea to have some goals in mind. Launching a linky party as I mentioned above would be one big goal for the year, for the rest I think it would be finishing the many works in progress I've got hanging around waiting for my attention. They include the Charm Square Heart quilt, the pink string quilt, the Boot quilt, not a full list. I would like to get the quilt tops I've finished this year quilted in 2021. They include the Ladybug quilt, a stars tablerunner in Fall Colors, and the Afternoon Delight tablecloth for spring. I would also like to get started on another Afternoon Delight tablecloth quilt, start the Stepping Stars tablecloth, make a Christmas tree skirt and a small quilted topper for the drop leaf table in my entry way. And more, I want to do so much more.  I will begin with One Monthly Goal for January, to complete the top for the String Quilt and possibly to get it layered and ready to quilt. 


I'm linking up with: 


Alycia at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday

Patty at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal

Angela at So Scrappy for RSC2021

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

Judy of Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making

Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers

Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss


Saturday, November 14, 2020

Then and Now


I began this post on Oct. 30th, but got interrupted somehow and never got back to finish it. So as you read down the post the first part of each project I discuss was written in October. I then follow up with the current status. Also I've rather fallen off keeping up on the posts of some I follow, I've done a bit of reading each day but have been away from my computer, which is the only device I have that allows me to make comments, so I've missed commenting on some interesting ideas, great work and beautiful quilts. 


Happy Birthday to me and Merry Christmas too for that matter. My birthday/Christmas gift has arrived and I'm thrilled with it. My husband ordered a new quilting frame for me sometime in August and it has arrived. It is a hand made Amish quilt hoop on a stand that tilts and rotates as needed. It's beautiful and works like a charm. I have a large Q-Snap frame that I've used for hand quilting in the past, but the new house does not really lend itself to it's use. The new frame can easily be moved around the house so I can do my hand quilting by my bedroom window, or carry it to the living room to stitch while I'm watching TV - the larger frame didn't fit through any doorway in the house and was a pain to take apart and put back together.  

My floral log cabin quilt has been waiting a very long time for my attention and I'm so excited to be able to finally really get to work on quilting it. I decided when I made it that I wanted to hand quilt it, but it got put aside while I worked on other projects and life interfered with my ability to work on it too. The new frame arrived last week and I've spent a couple of afternoons now working on my quilt. I have to limit my hand quilting time to just a couple of hours at a time because it's making my shoulder hurt. Pain in that shoulder is not new, and machine quilting makes it hurt too. Piecing doesn't bother it though. 

November update: My birthday hasn't arrived yet, but I'm sure enjoying the beauty of my new quilt frame. I've sewn on it in my bedroom by the light of the window and have brought it into the living room to sew while watching TV. It's working out beautifully, but progress is still very slow because I spend more time in the sewing room with my machines than sitting doing hand quilting. I've folded up my log cabin quilt and put a smaller piece I'm hand quilting on the frame. My log cabin is so big that most of it covers a good space of the floor around the frame and if it stays in the same place for long has the ability to attract spiders - ask me how I know.  I'll be linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

String Quilt: I've made good progress on my string quilt, though I've been slowed down over the last couple of weeks because our power has been shut off three times over that time period. My plan with getting that pieced was to do four or five blocks first thing each morning, which would have been enough for a small quilt in a short amount of time, the blocks would be complete by now if it hadn't been for the power outages. They are frustrating but better than having another wildfire blow through town on the high winds we get here. The yellow scraps in these blocks are the only yellow I've worked with this month, so my mostly pink blocks will have to do for the October Yellow RSC - I missed the pink month all together so I'm making up for that now. 

November update: I've finished piecing the string quilt. I've been dithering about whether or not to applique something on it. I wanted to put a few butterflies on the front but think I'm going to let that idea go. There are a couple of little ones pinned on but I found the solid colors boring and didn't want to use them. So I pulled out my butterfly coloring book and traced some of the butterflies onto a bit of white fabric. 

 I then
 colored them in with permanent markers and liked the look of them on the quilt. I knew though that I had to make sure they wouldn't run before actually attaching them - which they did when I washed them. So that idea was a fail. In the mean time I've bought some delicious delicate pink cuddle fabric for the back. I have a butterfly quilting template that I will use to get the quilting done, so there will be butterflies, just not quite as I had hoped. I'm linking up with Angela of So Scrappy, with this little gem. 

I'm pleased that I have been able to keep up with Pat Sloan's Cozy QAL. The blocks are published on Wednesdays and our power has been on during the day on Wednesdays so far. Most of the fabrics I'm using for this project are ones I purchased long ago and set aside to wait for their project to appear. I love the color combination of blue and brown. These are not my very favorite fabrics that I originally thought I would use for this project, but they are fabrics that I really like and am glad to finally be using. I've also added a few new fabrics to the mix. I didn't have enough light fabric to use for the background and wanted to add some red to pick up on the bit of red in one of the little star prints. I'm pleased with how the blocks are turning out so far. 

November update: I'm still keeping up with the QAL and enjoying the process of doing a different block each week. This was week five of nine. The challenge is keeping the colors coordinated within each block and between the blocks. I'm not sure that my addition of the red fabric was such a good idea, but I've gone with it so hope that it won't overtake some of the quieter colors. I've not begun to make any of the setting blocks yet, not sure I want to use the court house steps pattern that Pat has chosen for them. No need to hurry on that decision though. Four more blocks to go and that will take me close to Christmas. So I will set the blocks aside to work on sometime next year. I'll be linking up with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

Machine Mess: Besides power outages tension troubles with my Brother 1500s machine stopped my work on the large Magic Stars quilt that I was so close to having finished. It made a horrible mess on the back of the quilt on the last row that I did - the whole row. The problem wasn't showing on the front so I was finished with the row before I discovered the disaster. So during the first of our three outages over the last couple of weeks I spent time ripping out the mess. I also took my machine in for repair. I have it back now but the last two power outages have kept me from getting it going again. I'm afraid the problem isn't actually fixed as I can still see the top thread on the bottom fabric - it shows on the sample that the repair person did. I had quite a conversation with the person who was checking the machine out when I went to pick it up - that what I had brought it in for hadn't been fixed. He said it was normal, the machines they fixed always came out that way. Very frustrating. However, he didn't charge me for the service, and for that I am very grateful and will support his shop in any way I can in the future - except maybe not get my machines serviced there. I'll be linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.

November update: My machine is set up and I have yet to do the sample quilting I need to see how it's behaving. I just haven't gotten myself into the space of mind to do it just yet. I did take out the horrible mess from the back of the quilt but haven't moved on to restitching it. I will. I will also be very glad when this quilt is finally finished, it's taken way too long. It has me rather convinced though that if I ever do another quilt that size that I need to just send it out to be quilted. Someone with a long arm machine could do a big quilt like that in a fraction of the time it's taken me. 

My small Magic Stars leader/ender project is coming along nicely - making real progress while working on other things. I would never have thought of getting the piecing done that way but am glad for finding the tutorial about it on Bonnie Hunter's blog. All of the initial piecing is done now and the diagonal cuts are all done. I'm not doing the diagonal seams as leader/ender pieces due to the bias. Once all the bias seams have been sewn I will go back to using the pieces as leaders/enders. I'm trying to get eight or twelve of those bias seams done each morning. If the power outages will hold off for a while I'll be able to get that part done within another week or so. 

November update: Well I still have half a dozen blocks worth of diagonal seams to complete and have sewn most of the completed small squares together into the final blocks. Not what I had intended, but what felt right at the time, as I have been finding lots of things to do while avoiding going back to work on my quilting machine. I've been so pleased with the progress that I've made with this little quilt as a leader/ender project that I've chosen another project to get cut and organized to use as another leader/ender project. More on that below. I'll be linking up with Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making.


Nine Patch Star blocks: I was making good progress on my Nine Patch Star blocks but got interrupted by one of the power outages, when I got back to the project I messed it up. I trimmed the pieces I was working on, had been trimming pieces prior to the shut off - then when I went back I started trimming again. Somehow though I trimmed too much - took off my seam allowances on the pieces I trimmed. I'm so disappointed and frustrated I'm not sure what to do. I don't have enough of the dark purple scraps to fix the problem. 

November update: After avoiding that problem for a week or so I went back and had another look at it and decided to go ahead and sew the blocks together. It worked out pretty well, not every point is perfect, but then I never get them all perfect anyway. And as they say, 'finished is better than perfect.' The pillow covering is now a quilt top but won't be quilted until after I finish quilting the large Magic Stars quilt. They are intended to go together and the large quilt is the most important part of the project so waiting on the pillow cover isn't an issue. I also have coordinating fabric for making pillow cases to use on that bed. The pillow cover is to keep the cats off the pillows themselves. 

Crochet Project: My crochet project is coming along nicely. It's a simple pattern and I manage to do a few rows every day. It's been another good project to work on while the power has been out. 

November update: I've made good progress on my little crochet project. I do a row or two most every day. It will be a slow project at that rate, but I'm perfectly okay with that. I'm enjoying the process, it's quite relaxing. 

Current new project: I mentioned above that I've chosen a pattern to use with my favorite fabrics. It's from an old book The Simple Joys of Quilting by Joan Hanson and Mary Hickey, it's called Swedish Stepping Stars. I'm dropping the Swedish bit because I'm not using the blue and yellow that makes theirs have that Swedish look. It's a two block pattern using a star block and a stepping stones block. The star block has quarter square triangles and they have a few pages at the beginning of the book detailing their method of making them. I'm not using their approach so have been doing some practice pieces to make sure I've got that bit down before I start cutting anything for the project. I made a tablecloth in fall colors some years ago for my kitchen table and have wanted a runner to go with it for the top of the china cabinet that sits in the dining area by the table. I just happened to pull scraps that will go with it nicely - did one block as a sample. I liked it so much I wanted to do some more and found that I had plenty of scraps of the same fabrics to make three more blocks as well as enough background fabric to make sashing between the blocks. I will be pulling a black fabric from my stash and making a small border for it today. I'll be linking up with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! and with Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday

One other thing of note: After chasing, catching, and conquering the little squirrel that was teasing me around the time of my last post I have moved the little book shelf it was intended for out from underneath the collage that I worked so hard to make my little quilt coordinate with and moved it into the sewing room. I had discovered that I could be much more efficient if I could iron my pieces as I pieced them without getting up from the sewing desk. I was using my ironing board, but the only way it fit in the area locked me into the sewing corner and if I needed to get up for some reason I had to move it out of my way. Then last week it occurred to me that my little bookshelf was just the right size to fit into my sewing corner, as well as just the right height for my little pressing mat on top of it. It also gave me a little more storage room in that corner - now I can keep my most used rulers and rotary cutter right there within reach. A win for the sewing room. 

I moved the new quilting frame under the collage in my bedroom to keep the space where the little shelf was from feeling empty. The only bummer is now I don't know where my little squirrel will find a home. 

The quilt I have in the frame at the moment is a whole cloth quilt I started long ago, but only the center is completed. I have too many projects going at once to keep up very well with any of them. It's a wonder I ever get anything finished because I'm always starting new projects that take my attention away from my works in progress. Somehow I can't help myself, too many interesting and exciting ideas.

Comments are always welcome and I try always to respond to each of them when they come in.  Thanks for reading!