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.

Happy Days!

Yes, the days are very happy around here lately.  In spite of the tremendous amount of stress on a daily basis from the dogs and work, my days are definitely much, much happier than they were a year ago, so it's all good. 

I have found some time to work on the blocks for my dot quilt nearly every day.  Some days more than others, but even little bits of time add up.  The fabrics in the blocks are so happy that I'm thinking that Happy Days might be the appropriate name for this quilt, particularly given how happy I am feeling while I am making it.  What do you think?  Or maybe Happy Days Are Here Again would be better?  That was the first name that came to mind, but it seemed a bit long.  Maybe not.

I plan on making 90 blocks at a finished size of 8 inches.  I have been working on the first 30.  Here they are so far.  I will keep adding strips to each until I can trim them to 8 1/2 inches.

And here's a closeup of a few of the blocks.



 

A Sneak Peek

Even though I still haven't sewn the backing for Chocolate Covered Cherries, I have technically started on my next project.  What can I say...I have a very short attention span!  But the backing will get sewn.  And soon. 

Here is a sneak peek at the next project:

It all started with this, a pile of dot fabrics that Wanda sent me awhile back.  She saw my post about all of the new dot fabrics I had purchased and asked if I wanted her leftovers from her dot quilt.  Duh, of course I wanted them!  I love playing with other people's scraps.  Even better than playing with my own lol.  And now I have a plan for them and am almost ready to get started.  I need to go through some more fabric and then I should be ready to go. 

It's been awhile since I've posted any pictures of the feline members of the household.  That is because I've hardly taken any!  Shocking I know.  But I did get a few of Sassy helping with dinner on Sunday.  

Hmmm, what's this thing that has cool water droplets on the top and smells good?

Maybe I should get a closer look...



And how about a view from the other side?

Maybe touching it will help me figure out what this is...

She was totally fascinated with the crock pot for about 10 minutes and then finally gave up and left.  Oh, and she's also trained me to run water for her in the front bathroom sink so she can drink it while it's running *sigh*.  I don't know why I do those things for that cat.  It's not like it keeps her out of trouble LOL.











Strings from Stash is Done!!

I put the last stitches in the binding of Strings from Stash on Friday night.  Woo hoo!  I love, love, love this quilt.  It was so much fun to make from start to finish.  The story of this quilt is this post and this post.  The second post also includes a tutorial on how to make string blocks if anyone is interested in making a quilt like this themselves.  It's really quite easy.

Here is the finished quilt:

And here's the back:

So far this weekend I have been like a quilter possessed working on Indian Summer.  I made the backing yesterday morning, got the quilt layered and basted and I am half done with the quilting.  I'm hoping to finish up the quilting today.

Oh, and as a side note, Echo has received no less then 2 more baths from Maya since I posted about the first one on Thursday.  He seems to like it, so whatever floats his boat I guess LOL.

Progress!

Progress seemed like an appropriate title to this post since I did make a lot of progress on things these week.  Except for work.  I'm way behind with that, so it could get crazy this coming week with the 10/15 tax deadline coming up.  I find it adds to the suspense and excitement of a deadline to not receive the information until the very last minute.  And then there's the returns for which I haven't even received the information yet.  That's even more exciting.  I'm not sure what the strategy is there on the part of the client.  I mean, do you really want me to have to scramble to finish your return, and barely have enough time to input the information, or would you rather give me a little more time so I could actually look at things and perhaps ask follow up questions that might save you some money?  Personally I'd like the latter approach, but apparently some people do not.  I guess they just like to live on the edge.  To each their own.

But I digress.  As I said, I did make progress on some other things this week.  Most of the week was spent hammering out the asset division and other aspects of the divorce and preparing the Petition for filing.  With any luck, I will be able to file tomorrow, or at the very least, in the next few days, so that is great news.  And I think we are both as satisfied as we can be at this point, so that is good too.

Thankfully after a week of dealing with divorce stuff, I had a quilting day scheduled yesterday at Dawn's.  As usual, it was a great day and we both got a lot done.  Dawn worked on quilting this great cat quilt she is making for her MIL for Christmas and I assembled the quilt center for this quilt.  It really doesn't look much different than the picture in the previous post except Laura was kind enough to email me and tell me that I had a block turned the wrong way so I did remedy that.  With no seams to match up, this top was a piece of cake to assemble. 

I'm not sure what I'm doing yet for the borders.  I'm thinking that a pieced border might be nice, particularly if I could use up the partial strip sets that I didn't use for the blocks.  We'll see.  I'll have to think on that for awhile.  I also started stitching a cross stitch ornament this week, but the part that's done is really nothing to see at this point, so I'll wait to show that until I'm further along.

I didn't take any decent cat pictures this week, but I did catch Maya looking pretty in the living room a couple of days ago.  The dogs will be going with T eventually, so I will enjoy them while they are still here.  I will miss them, well mostly Maya because Koda is a pain most of the time, but I just can't realistically handle all six animals and the house on my own.





Christmas Gift #2 is Done!

I finished the second flannel baby quilt I wrote about here just in time to send it home with T so I didn't have to ship it later.  This one will be a Christmas gift for our nephew's daughter born last November.

Here is the front of the finished quilt - so soft and sweet looking - perfect for a little girl I think.

A closeup:

And the back:

And the front and back together.  I thought they coordinated very nicely and everything was from my stash, including the quilting thread!

I was also washing some fabric this week and look who had to "help" with that process.  Yes, that would be Sassy in the dryer once again :-).  And yes, I already failed at my "don't buy anything until the end of the year" pledge and I purchased some more Kaffe Fasset fabrics.  But they were so worth it, and basically free since I used some of the money from my recent Ebay sales to buy them.  So if they were free, that doesn't really count, does it?  LOL