A Couple of Finishes!

Wow, it has been almost a month since I've written a post.  I knew I was going to likely skip the week that I was preparing for a retreat; however, I was not prepared to come home from the retreat with a horrible cold that lasted for over two weeks.  I am not one that normally gets chest colds or coughing with my colds, but I sure did this time.  The cough is finally about 95% gone and my nose has stopped running 24/7.

I finished sewing the binding down on an old UFO just prior to the retreat.  I originally pieced this little quilt in 2010 while living in AZ.  I was starting my first machine applique project, so I wanted to do some practicing with my machine and the stitches before I worked on the "real" quilt.  I had some scraps of batiks laying around that already had fusible on them from making a Snippet Sensations quilt so I fused them on a piece of background fabric in a random pattern, practiced my machine applique skills around each piece, added a border and dubbed the finished quilt top "Collage Applique".  Just now as I was typing that I realized that "Applique Collage" is probably a more accurate name, but the label is already made (shocking for me) and I am not changing the name now :-).  I got the center half quilted while still in AZ, probably also in 2010 and then the quilt just sat and sat.  I finally pulled it back out, finished the quilting and got it bound.  It has now lived in 3 different states and I've had two different names since it got started, so it was time to get it done.  Here is the finished quilt.  Now I just need to find the perfect place to hang it :-)

I also got my Tumbling Nine Patch quilt completed at the retreat.  This quilt is a shop sample and only baby size, so since it will likely be either donated for a baby or gifted for a baby, I opted to attach the binding by machine to get it done and off the to do list.  There are a number of methods used to attach binding by machine.  I didn't want a lot of fuss and worry about having to line things up so I opted to attach the binding to the back of the quilt, pull it to the front and to stitch it down using a blanket/buttonhole stitch.  I am very happy with how the front looks.  Does the back look great?  Well, not so much, but I used a thread that matched the backing so unless you are looking close, it doesn't look bad.  And again, this quilt will eventually be used by a baby and will get washed and washed, so machine binding was a good choice for this quilt.  Below are pictures of the finished quilt and a closeup of both the front and the back of the binding.  I do have 3 kits of this quilt made up in the shop.  You can find them HERE.

I have also been plugging away on my Perkiomen Daydreams blocks and have 6 rows completely assembled.  Well, technically I have a block flipped on the far left side of row 6.  I have unpicked the stitching since taking this pic, but still have to sew it back together.

2 Hour Table Runner Finish, a New Iron & a Cutting Mat Bath!

I have gotten way behind in my bindings as I've gotten absorbed in my Perkiomen Daydreams blocks and now I have a huge backlog of quilts needing binding. So, to remedy that situation I have decided to go back to only doing hand work while listening to Daily Audio Bible. I have mostly followed that plan and finally finished sewing down the binding on this two hour table runner last week that has been quilted and half sewn down for months.

This version of the runner is sold out in the shop, but we still have black and red versions, blue and tan and a bright reindeer version available.  You can find them all HERE.

I also made progress on the next binding in the queue and should get this little quilt finished this week.

My cutting mats finally got a bath this past week as well!  It was long overdue.  Too long as it turned out as some of the deepest cuts were just too far gone to heal.  Both of the mats that I washed were 10-15 years old and it was becoming very difficult to cut on them and my rotary blades were becoming dull very quickly.  While the worst parts of both mats didn't really get better, both are reversible and the other sides are in excellent shape, as are the outer parts of the bad sides, so they are still usable.  I will be starting this maintenance on my newer mats now to hopefully keep them in great shape for longer.  There are directions all over the Internet and how and why to do this, but these are the instructions I used today:  http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-your-self-healing-mat-last-much.html

Out of the bath and drying:

Finally, it was an exciting week last week in that I got a new iron after at least 10 years of using the old one.  I would have been very happy to continue using the old one as I loved that iron, but it had started to randomly spew rusty water out.  Not good when you are pressing very light fabrics.  And my new ironing board cover has stains now as well :-(.  I am very careful to empty the water after each use and to only use distilled or purified water, but alas, after that much use, this was bound to happen eventually. I paid just over $20 for the iron brand new so I most definitely got my money's worth. And yes, it ...was made in China. Just like the replacement model I purchased. The new iron was still only $28 from Amazon with free shipping so if it lasts half as long as the previous version I will be thrilled, but I am hoping it lasts much longer. I love these Panasonic irons and I really love the retractable cord! They also get nice and hot and they heat up quickly. And they are fairly lightweight which is important to me.

And that sums up all of the exciting events in MY life last week :-).  Oh, and we also found a great like-new sectional for our formal living room, so that was fun too :-).  And of course the remodel work on the rest of the house continues to move along.  Last week involved finishing the painting in the living room.  This week it is back to baseboard cleaning and staining.

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.

So Let's Talk Orphan Blocks...

We all have them.  Some of us sew them together into a whole new quilt top or a quilt backing.  Some of us turn them into coasters, potholders or trivets, or even small wall hangings for those extra large blocks.  Some of us do nothing with them at all and either throw them in a drawer or in the trash.  If you currently throw them in the trash please consider passing them on to a quilter that makes charity quilts.  Trust me that they will be put to good use!

As for me, I fall into the second category and like to turn my orphans into mini quilts to be used as potholders, etc.  In the spirit of full disclosure, first they usually go into a drawer, and I have quite a backlog at this point, but eventually I have a "deal with the poor orphan blocks" day and then they get to come out and play :-)

For those new quilters out there who don't know what orphan blocks are, they are the extra blocks leftover from making a quilt.  Yes, it does OCCASIONALLY happen that the number of blocks doesn't come out exactly to what you need and you have extra.  I say this tongue in cheek because this is not an occasional occurrence for me, it's a regular one LOL.  Or you make a test block that doesn't get used in the final quilt.  As a rule I'm not a test block maker, but I know many quilters are.  Or in the case of one of my recently quilted orphan blocks, I made a mis-cut when piecing for the quilt, so this one block had to get rejected because it wasn't going to end up at the correct size.

No matter how we get them, they seem to multiply much like scraps do.  So I am trying to not let them pile up quite so high and to deal with them more timely as they get produced.  I was traveling recently and binding little orphan blocks is the perfect handwork for airports and airplanes.  I got these two blocks bound during that trip.  I had lots of other handwork with me so I didn't get as many blocks bound as I took on the trip.

These two blocks have cotton batting in them so they will be used as trivets although they may also be fine as potholders as long as the temperature isn't too hot and the item isn't held too long.  I use Insulbrite in orphan blocks specifically intended to be potholders.  Then I know they are safe for use with high temperatures.  If you aren't familiar with Insul-bright, you can find it at the big box stores for a good price, especially if you catch it on sale.  It looks like this:

These two Christmas orphan blocks have Insul-Bright in them.  They end up a bit thicker and stiffer than they would with cotton batting and they have a little crinkle sound when you bend them.  That makes it easy to tell if Insul-Bright has been used rather than cotton batting.

Here are three more Christmas orphans that are quilted with regular batting.  The rectangular one would be great as a mug rug and the other two would be great for displaying some smaller Christmas decorations or simply using them as over sized coasters.

As a bonus to turning my orphans into mini quilts, I get to use up some of this:

Those are my bags of binding left over from binding my quilts.  I can generally find something in these baggies to match the orphan blocks and it is a good way to use up small lengths of leftover binding.  I also use these blocks to practice my machine quilting skills.  This is a good way to get practice without turning a large quilt into an eyesore lol. I currently have one poor little orphan that came out worse for the wear after I tried out some new quilting designs on it.  It's not the actual quilting that is so bad, but rather the designs I used, where I used them, and the thread that I used.  The quilting became way too busy and overwhelmed the block itself.  I am keeping it for future reference to hopefully show me how far my machine quilting skills have come!

I have more to say about orphan blocks, but this post is getting long so we will leave it as is for now :-).

Done!

I got the pieced border finished on this old UFO yesterday and the top is officially done!  I've pulled some fabrics from my stash to make a pieced backing so that is next on the quilting to do list.  It felt good to finally get some sewing time this weekend.  We also got the rest of the garden planted, a good long bike ride in once the rain finally stopped, and watched several movies from back in "our day" with the kids, which they enjoyed.  All in all, it was a great weekend at our house!

Chocolate Covered Cherries is Done!

Woo hoo!  I have a completely finished quilt and the first month of 2013 isn't even done yet!  Of course, it was already to the stage of having the binding partially sewn down at the end of 2012, but hey, a finish is a finish and there has been a long, long drought around here with regard to finished quilts.  I believe the last one was in, ahem, 2011.  Ouch.  But I did have a few big things going on since then so I will cut myself a bit of slack.

Anyway, here is Chocolate Covered Cherries, all washed and ready for snuggling under.  I didn't feel like vacuuming up the cat hair to take a picture upstairs where it is marginally brighter than my basement studio (North Dakota in the winter you know) so please excuse the bad lighting in the picture.  The fabrics are batiks, my favorite, in a beautiful fuchsia combined with the brown and pink print.  The block is the bento box block.

 

 

 

 

A Flurry of Finishes!

I have had a very productive weekend and managed to finish up a few projects that have been hanging around for awhile.  The first finish was this Friendship Star wall hanging, which was one of the quilts that I made in my beginning quilting class in, ahem, 2001.

And the back.  If you enlarge the picture, you can see the quilting outline of the stars on the front.

This afternoon I finished up this ornament while I was watching the Bears game.  S and two of his sons are huge Bears fans and I don't get to see many games down here since I pretty much only have the main network stations, but today's game was on Fox, so I was able to watch.  Our AZ Cardinals pulled out a come from behind win over the Eagles too, so good job to them.  Please excuse the wrinkles in the ornament.  I didn't take time to iron it before taking a picture.

The other thing I finished during the game was this cat mat for the shelter that was started on one of my airplane rides this summer.

I actually have some feline pictures to post as well.  First I have Tyrone testing out S's quilt.  I got the binding attached by machine this weekend, and also did the same for Chocolate Covered Cherries, so now I can work on the hand stitching as I am watching Christmas movies.

Sassy was sleeping yesterday all curled into a tight little ball.  If you look closely, you can see her little foot tucked behind her shoulder.  Cats are so flexible!

And finally, here is Echo being his usual dorky self.  I have been going through the contents of some of the drawers in my rolling sewing cart and Echo took advantage of finding one empty and decided to take a nap in it.  As you can see, he's a little too big, but that didn't seem to bother him lol.

And I had to add this final pic.  What are the chances?  No, not of having your bobbin run out, but having it run out when you are exactly at the end of attaching a long binding to a quilt.  That is what happened to me yesterday when I attached the binding to Chocolate Covered Cherries.  I hit the thread cutter, pulled the quilt out, saw the empty bobbin, and thought oh, no, I have been sewing without bobbin thread for who knows how long.  But lo and behold, the binding was attached all the way to the end.  Amazing.

Indian Summer Bound and Ready to Hang!

I finished sewing down the binding yesterday on Indian Summer, so now I just need to find a curtain rod that I like and get it hung in my new bedroom.  I finished the painting on Christmas Day, but will wait to take final pictures until after the carpets are cleaned tomorrow and before I move everything back in.  I also ordered my bed, mattress, and bedside tables today, to be delivered on January 5th, so the room is coming together nicely.  The only things remaining on my shopping list are lamps and possibly a cabinet for displaying quilts.  I will wait on the cabinet until the bed and tables are in place so I can see how much room I have left and how things are laid out.

So here is Indian Summer all finished.  I really love this quilt and can't wait to have it up on the wall.



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.