Finished Current Projects & Progress on an old UFO

I have made sure to spend time in my sewing room every day since getting home from the retreat and I have finishes to show for it!  Actually one of the finishes came in the truck on a road trip to pick up the 1000 square feet of flooring that we purchased, but a finish is a finish no matter where it happens!

I was on a roll with the Dancing 9 Patch top, so I kept going and not only got the top finished, but I also have the backing made.  I have a huge pile of unquilted tops, so one of my goals this year is to try and quilt each top as it's finished.  Sometimes quilts need to sit for awhile before quilting to figure out what will look best or just because you are so sick of the top by then that you can't stand to look at it for one more second LOL.  I'm still excited about the Dancing 9 Patch top, so I want to strike while the iron is hot.  I have plenty of batting on hand, so I just need to get that cut and the quilt basted so I can start the quilting.

Here is the finished top followed by the quilting design that I have decided on.  It really is true that if you practice a design over and over by drawing it on paper, that WILL translate to quilting your quilt.  I did the same thing when I was trying to learn an allover swirl quilting design and now I'm trying it with another design.  I've seen this one referred to as headbands and mussels and I'm sure there are plenty of other names for it as well.  I get huge pieces of packing paper in with my fabric shipments and I realized last week that they would be perfect for practicing doodling allover quilting designs.

The finish I mentioned came in the form of sewing down the binding on this small quilt that I pieced in 2015 and quilted last year.  It was one of them that got the swirl quilting.  It's a disappearing 9 patch pattern.  I got the entire binding sewn down in about 2 hours of our 3 hours of road time going to and from Fargo for our flooring.  I was shocked at how fast it went and realized that quilts with batik binding seem to take me much longer to sew down as the tighter weave makes it more difficult to push the needle through, even with the use of a thimble.   But I will still use my beloved batiks :-).

I have also been slogging along with updating my UFO lists and creating a detailed list in a notebook with all of the steps/materials needed to complete the project.  One of the quilts in progress was a pineapple quilt.  It's hard to really call it a quilt in progress when all it consisted of was 6 pineapple quilt blocks barely started.  I do still have a large pineapple quilt on my "must make" list, but in the spirit of getting something done with these barely started blocks right now, I decided to finish them all and make a small table runner out of them.  I got 5 of the 6 done before I called it quits last night.  Digging through bags of scraps for just the right pieces was so. much. fun.  Now I actually do want to start a large pineapple quilt lol.  But I will wait on that until I put a bigger dent in that pile of quilt tops to be quilted as well as other UFOs.  Pictured below are a couple of blocks in progress, the five finished blocks and my piles of scraps.

Finally, on a quick note about quilt shop business, it's the time of the month that our latest Fabric Club selections are posted.  We currently have three clubs - a Fat Quarter Club, a One Third Yard Club and starting this month, a Half Yard Club.  In each case, you get six coordinated batik fabrics in the cut size applicable to the club you are in.  This month we have grays and turquoises and the fabric selections are below.  

Quilting Retreat Weekend!

Quilting Retreats are always conducive for me getting things done and this past weekend was no exception.  I left on Friday for the drive back to Grand Forks for a day long quilting retreat the next day.  One of my quilting friends graciously offered me a warm bed for Friday and Saturday night so I could continue coming to these retreats, which are held every 2-3 months at a church in Grand Forks.  These particular retreats are so popular that once you make it on to the list, you want to stay on the list!  I haven't missed a retreat since I was lucky enough to get in to the first one I attended in March 2015 :-).

For this retreat I took along two small quilts to be quilted and two piecing projects.  I got both of the quilting projects done and made good progress on one of the piecing projects.  The other one never saw the light of day :-).

The first quilt I got quilted was this little strippy string quilt that I pieced last year.  I need to write up some instructions for it that I will share whenever I get them done.  No promises on when that will be :-).  It's not a difficult quilt to piece and you can probably figure it out from the picture and this write-up.  The starting point was leftover ATM machine paper (we used to fill ATMs for our BIL), which is 3 inches wide, and my tins of short strings.  I foundation pieced strings on to the ATM paper in segments of various lengths.  I added chunks of 3 inch strips from the strip bins between the string segments in order to break things up a bit.  Finally, I added narrow sashing between the vertical strips to add some stability to all of those small strings.  The strips were cut 1 inch wide.  Even WITH those stabilizing strips, the poor little quilt developed a leaning problem.  I was able to correct most of the lean with a good basting job and the quilting.  For the quilting I just did randomly placed straight lines.  I start with a drawing a longer line from somewhere in the upper left corner that goes somewhere in the neighborhood of the lower right corner.  I've included a couple of close-up pictures of the quilting below.

The other quilt that I got quilted was a small batik postage stamp quilt.  A second one the same size is in process.  They were supposed to be for our night stands, but I'm not sure they work with our bedroom at the new house, so I will finish them both up and decide then.  They were still fun to make and used up a lot of little batik scraps.  The individual squares finish at 1 inch.  One of the closeup pics has a quarter on the quilt to show the size of the squares.

Once the quilts were quilted I moved on to one of my piecing projects.  Long, long ago I participated in a swap of 2" wide strips of Christmas fabric.  I made the quilt we were supposed to make with the strips, which was a nine patch and hour glass.  But I still had so many strips left that I made a bunch more nine patches and they have been sitting in a plastic storage box just waiting to be used.  And waiting.  Enter Bonnie Hunter's Dancing Nine Patch pattern.  It was PERFECT for getting these blocks into a quilt.  And it's free!  Bonnie has tons of free patterns on her Quiltville website so be sure and check them out.  I didn't get all of the blocks pieced at the retreat, but I was able to finish them up yesterday except for the one I put together wrong which was un-sewn and re-sewn today along with the last block that I didn't think I needed yesterday.  So here they are all laid out and ready to sew into a top.  It looks like a square layout is the way to go.  The main border fabric will be the same as the constant used in the quilt center.

Finally, I finished the stitching on the cross stitch project I've been working on while I was hanging out with my friend I stayed with.  I got my initials and the date on the piece this morning and gave it a good pressing.  This piece is Christmas Zipper by Bent Creek.

2016 Finishes

I started the year strong thanks to classes and retreats, but then summer hit with gardening and spending time outside and then suddenly we were unexpectedly moving.  The good news is that I did get a lot of quilt tops completed last year even if they didn't ultimately turn into completed quilts.  I already had a pile of unquilted tops, so I guess we know what needs to be the priority in 2017!  Of course, I also just packed and unpacked my personal stash and it's very obvious that a lot more tops need to be pieced as well if I have any hope of making a dent.  At least with all of the projects at the new house and the money required to complete them, I am not even remotely tempted to add anymore fabric to my already huge stash lol.

So on to my 2016 finishes.  January 2016 was pretty productive.  I taught a class for our Guild with my 2 Hour Table Runner pattern and completed a red, black and white version while demo-ing the steps for the class.  I got it quilted a few months later and binding completed in September.  I also got the binding sewn down for the two Floating Four Patch quilts that I had quilted in 2015, so those two little quilts are done, done.

In February I attended a retreat, which is always conducive for getting things done.  I actually got my Black & White Bargello top completed before the retreat so I would have it for Show & Tell.  As a bonus, I also was able to take my Bargello top to a Quilting Cocoon I attended in Naperville in April and get a picture of the quilt top with Bonnie Hunter, the designer of the pattern I used.  It's a free pattern and you can find it here.  During the retreat I pieced my Prairie Stroll top using a collection of fabrics I had purchased when I started quilting in 2001, so I was happy to finally have them into a completed quilt top.  This was a pattern from an issue of Quiltmaker magazine from 2001.  Also at retreat, I pieced a quick little table runner that is a free pattern on the Timeless Treasures Reef Charm Pack.

In March I finished my Mysterious top from a class I took with Doug Leko in February.  This was a great quilt to make!  It's one of those blocks that can result in a multitude of layout possibilities that all look very different.  I also finished a couple of trivets made from orphan blocks.  I like to practice my machine quilting on orphan blocks and turn them into trivets or potholders.

April brought the previously mentioned Quilting Cocoon held in Naperville, IL.  This was a great event set up by Craftours and featured classes with four national/international instructors.  Bonnie Hunter was one of them and while I haven't made any real progress on the class I took from her in April, I did manage to get my Texas Tumbleweeds top completed during the Cocoon and got a picture of the top with Bonnie and myself.  Texas Tumbleweeds was the class I had taken on a Quilting Cruise in November 2014.  The pattern can be found in her More Adventures with Leaders and Enders book and you can purchase it directly from Bonnie here. 

I also completed this little strippy strings top that will be donated once it's completed.  I had short strings I wanted to use so I sewed them onto leftover rolls of paper from the ATMs we used to fill.  I do plan to write up the instructions at some point, but haven't gotten to that yet.  Perhaps that will be a blog post when I finally get this top quilted and bound.  The top does have a bit of a left leaning problem, but I think I will be able to remedy that with a the quilting.

Finally, I finished  sewing down the binding on another of my 2 Hour Table Runners in April.  I call this one the "Caribbean" runner.

The next few months of quilting time were filled with a special project for which I got the top completed in July.  My FIL passed away in 2014 and I am using his shirts to make quilts for my husband and his sister.  I finished his sister's quilt top in July.  It is a combination of string pieced blocks and applique.  I used the quilt Angel Kisses from the Strips and Strings book by Evelyn Sloppy as inspiration for the quilt and for the applique patterns.

While in the throes of buying a house, selling a house and packing to move, I needed some mindless sewing to keep my sanity.  I had received some free strips with my Island Batik orders, so some 16 patch blocks using matching pairs of the strips was just what I needed.  I trimmed the strips to 2 1/2 inches wide for my blocks.  A quick tutorial on piecing 16 patch blocks will likely be one of my future blog posts although there are plenty such tutorials already out there :-).  So here is my 16 patch top.  It's a small top that will be great for a child.  Once I get it quilted and bound it will be donated.

And the final finish for 2016 happened on December 31, 2016 at about 11 p.m. as I put the final stitches in the binding of my Jingle Table Runner.  This was a free pattern on the Jingle charm pack from Timeless Treasures.  I added borders because I wanted a wider runner.  The piecing was super easy.

Santa's Workshop Has Been Busy!

I am not a last minute Christmas shopper.  Actually, I am not a last minute anything.  I hate the stress involved with situations like that.  Some people thrive on it.  I do not.  So, I am not only a NOT a last minute Christmas shopper, I am an early Christmas shopper.  After my trip out tonight, I will have probably 85% of my gifts purchased and the ones that are left will be easy to take care of.

The kids were with us this past weekend so yesterday was wrapping day at our house.  The kids wrapped all of their gifts for their dad and Scott and I wrapped the rest after they went home.  And here is the result of all of our hard work:

Our Christmas isn't until the last weekend in December when we have the kids, but we are sending all of these gifts home with my Dad and Stepmother when they are here this week for Thanksgiving.  Then all we need to add are the ribbons and bows which we will put on when we get there for Christmas.  That way they won't get squished while in transit :-).

My afghan is almost done.  Just one and a half rows of the final border to finish and then blocking it.  I will probably finish the border tonight during the Bears game.  Here are the youngest two felines playing on the sewn together blocks. Those two seem to have a lot of fun together.  I think Sassy likes having another cat close to her size.  For now lol.





Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours

Merry Christmas everyone from myself and all of the furry members of the household.  Tyrone got in the spirit of Christmas this year by putting a little spot of glitter on his nose.  Can you see it?  Look closely and you will lol.

Echo decided to see if he could squeeze into this basket, which he obviously did:

And Sassy was once again very helpful with the laundry this week:

This morning we, well me anyway, will be enjoying the Christmas morning tradition of cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  They are in the oven as I type this.  It's supposed to be a gorgeous day here...probably about 70, so I will be enjoying the weather for sure and will see what else the day brings.  I'm sure it will be another great one.  They have all been great lately :-).





The Last Christmas Gift is Done!

I played hooky from work today in order to finish the bag I am making my aunt for Christmas.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this was my first bag and I found it easier to make than I anticipated.  The only part I had left to do today was to cut the cardboard to go in the bottom and cover it with fabric.  There were no instructions as to how to best cover the cardboard, so I did it in the same manner as I would wrap a gift using double sided tape to hold it in place and then blind stitching the loose edges.  I did press all of the sides under about a half an inch before wrapping the cardboard.  That approach seemed to work well and resulted in a nice finished look, although it was a bit time consuming to do the hand stitching.

Now I just need to get it wrapped and in the mail.  I should still be able to get it there by Christmas.  Fortunately, I have the perfect box on hand so I will wrap it up this afternoon and run it down to the post office.  Fingers crossed that I will be able to use the self service kiosk and avoid all the lines. 

Productive Quilting Day

I spent the day at Dawn's yesterday and pretty much finished the last of the Christmas gifts I am making.  Here is my aunt's bag that she requested when I saw her this summer.  All I have left is to cover a piece of cardboard for the bottom.  The bottom is folded up in the picture.  The bag is actually quite a bit longer than it appears.  This is the first bag I've made.  I was apprehensive about it, but it turned out to be much easier than I expected.

After I was done with the bag, I started the quilting on Collage Applique.  I am doing a small stipple in the white areas using Rainbows thread in Jester.  This is my progress so far:

On a non quilting note, the moving truck departed on Tuesday at 4 a.m.  I was a bit out of sorts for the rest of the day, but the rest of the week and weekend have been great, in spite of having to evict a snake from the house on Friday night.  After I convinced Echo to give it up that is.  When I tried to get it away from him, he hissed at me and took off streaking through the house with it and finally dropped in the master bedroom.  Oy vey.  I did take pictures; however, I will spare you so that no one is freaked out.  The snake was a young Desert Nightsnake, so if anyone wants to see what it looked like, just do a google search.  I did release the snake into the backyard, completely unharmed.  I suspect that he was in the garage and somehow made it into the house during the commotion of the move.



Christmas Gifts Done!

I finished sewing down the last binding on my sister's three Christmas quilts this past week.  I love sewing down binding, so this was an enjoyable process for me.  I used Connecting Threads Essentials thread in various colors for all of the quilting.

The finished Christmas table mat.  I used my walking foot to do the quilting around the flower in the center.  I couldn't get a good picture of the center quilting, but I'm hoping if you zoom in on the second picture that you can see it.  I really like how this quilt turned out.  I hope my sister does too! 

The Halloween Octagon.  I really like the striped binding on this one.

 And the Autumn Octagon.





Progress on Christmas Gifts and a Little Stash Enhancement

I spent yesterday at Dawn's and actually did some sewing!  The last time I did any sewing was also at Dawn's house.  It seems when I'm home lately I'm either working on work or working in the garage lol.  But yesterday I got started on my sister's Christmas gifts.  I got two of her table mats cut out and pieced.  Both of them are made from patterns, something that is rare for me, and I followed the directions exactly, which is even rarer for me LOL.  Usually I design my own quilts or at the very least, rewrite the instructions for somebody else's design to make it more "me friendly".  But not this time.  I followed the instructions for both patterns to the letter.

Here's the first one.  The fabrics were kitted up with the pattern at the quilt shop in Devils Lake, ND, and I thought they did a fabulous job with the fabric choices.

This quilts is from this pattern by G.E. Designs.  It's designed as a Quilt As You Go pattern, but I wanted to be a bit more creative with the quilting, so I just pieced the top as instructed and will baste it and quilt it the traditional way.  My sister wants one more topper in this pattern, with different fabrics, so you will be seeing this design again, probably soon.

I also pieced this little table topper.  It is from this pattern by Atkinson Designs.  This is a great pattern that is pretty easy to piece if you are careful with the bias edges and follow the instructions exactly.  As a bonus, it comes in 3 sizes.  I made the smallest size.

You will also be seeing this pattern again as my sister picked out one more set of fabrics that she wants made up in this design.

And here are the new batiks I got last week that I mentioned in my last post.  All southwest designs, of which I don't really have many in batiks, so they will be a nice addition to my stash.

And the cat backing I got for 40% off and a random dot fat quarter that I found in the $1.25 bin.  The dot fabric is a Michael Miller fabric and the cat fabric is from a new line by Red Rooster.