Keeping cool

The AC is on in the sewing room, and our heat pump is taking away the hot, humid air on the first floor.  We are definitely comfortable inside.  Outside, not so much, but it is good to see the sun after days of gloom.  First there were the fires in Quebec clouding up the skies, and then there was the thread of and downpours of rain.  Today thunder storms are expected at around 4 pm, which makes sense due to the heat/humidity.

I finished the "mini" quilt for the Gypsy Moth shop contest.  I'll take it along when I go for my class on using the long arm there next week.  We received two fat eights and needed to use at least 25% of them in our projects.  One is the binding and the center of the Dresden flower along with some petals.  The other is the flower pot and the center of one of the smaller flowers.  I guess they "went" together but I had a heck of a time coming up with an idea for using them.

The required size was 12" x 15" and that posed a problem for me, too.  I did some hand applique, some hand quilting, and some embroidery on this piece.  Of course, now that it's done, I see that, as usual, the pot is crooked "On the Patio."  Why, that's the name of the piece.  

The label on the back has the quilt name, basic info about me, and my age.   WTH!   I rather resent having to add the age, but...  oh well.

I am slowly hand quilting fragile sections of my hankie quilt, but this morning I had a hankering for machine sewing.  I cut out and sewed some flying geese for this month's Rows Parade quilt along with Aby.  We need to make 48 during July and August, and I managed to make 24.  I'll rearrange them when I get the other 24 made.  

I got to thinking that this is going to be a very colorful quilt.  I will probably put a nice neutral between the rows when I go to put them together.  Or should I make some table runners with the rows?  We will have to wait and see.

This morning I'm meeting two other Friends of the Library to set up a collection of freebies at the agency that serves the needy in the area.  This is a trial to put small collections in waiting rooms around town using excess book sale books.   Afterwards, I'm having coffee with the new volunteer who will take care of the collection to keep it fresh.   It will most likely be iced coffee!

Quilting another one

Yesterday, it rained hard almost the whole day.  We only left the house to go to the library for some DVDs to watch when we can't agree on anything to stream.  Unfortunately, it turned out Behaving Badly wasn't all that great, so we'll be taking it back soon.

I put a binding on the Hunters Star quilt on Thursday but haven't had a chance to take a picture due to the rain.  Maybe later today?  

Meanwhile, I got out the first section of the latest hankie quilt to sandwich and start quilting.  It looks like it will end up being around 63" x 63", which I could do all in one piece.  But I would really like to take some time to quilt each block in its own way, so I'll have to manipulate it quite a bit.  Quilting in two sections seems sensible for this.  Some parts may even need to be quilted by hand due to the uneven lacey edges.  It's going to be very pretty when done.

I signed up to be certified to use the longarm machine at the Gypsy Moth Quilt Shop in July.  I'm hoping to get a handle on the rest of my UFOs waiting to be quilted.  While I was at the shop, I picked up the two fat eighths required for the shop's mini quilt show and contest.  I hung them on my design wall in hopes that I will be inspired.  So far, no luck!

Weekend finishes

The weekend was sunny and warm - perfect summer weather.  I potted up lots of impatiens but still have some bare spots to cover in the yard.  Our lilies of the valley are blooming and looking fabulous with a backdrop of blue violets which will be removed as soon as they finish blooming.  Those violets always come back stronger each year.  Guess I'll be going out looking for plants tomorrow - hope there are some left!

I finished two guild challenges today.  First is the Asian panel everyone received this past fall.  I was going to cut it up in some way, but then I decided to use it to try "big stitch" quilting.   I found out that was not really for me.  It's hard to pull a big needle through the three layers of the sandwich.  

I did a little big stitch, and like the way the mountain looks.  For the tree I switched to regular quilting thread and a conventional stitch.  It really gave a lot of texture to the otherwise flat surface.  I also experimented a little with gold metallic thread, another difficult item to work with.  But I'm so pleased with the way the moon turned out that I'm calling this piece Moon Over Mt. Fuji.  

Mainly, I'm relieved to be finished!  And what will I do with this piece?  I'm not planning to hang it on a wall.   Maybe someone will need a gift sometime!  This will be shown at the June guild meeting, and I'm curious to see what others did with their panels.

After attending two talks about mini quilts this spring, I suggested a summer mini quilt challenge to the guild.   Even though I won't be showing my 10" square until September, I was anxious to give it a try.  And I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  

I used a paper pieced pattern from a friend, rotary cut the pinwheels, and paper pieced the flying geese from The Border Workbook.  A friend gave me a fat eighth of the print I used for the star points and outer border/facing.   I'm pleased with the way my Turquoise House Mini turned out. 

I noticed some people wearing name tags made of mini blocks at the state guild meeting, and this is something I'd really like to try this summer.

Next on my quilting agenda are a few blocks of the month that I haven't gotten around to along with more Dear Jane blocks.   After that, I hope to put the borders on the hankie quilt and start quilting it.   I have two empty project boxes but I don't want to start any more projects until I've cleared away some more UFOs.

Busy, busy

It's been a busy week, and this coming one looks like it will be similarly busy.  Monday was our usual monthly library board meeting, and Tuesday the monthly quilt guild meeting.  Our speaker, Sharon, at the latter came from Bennington, 2.5 hours south of us, and because I know her slightly, I offered to have her spend the night rather than driving home late.  I was not on the May guild "team," but so many of their members couldn't come that I arrived early to help Sarah, Marty and Betty set up chairs and tables.  Then we all met Sharon for a quick dinner across the street from the church.

Sharon's program on mini quilts was amazing because she showed a seemingly endless array of minis she has made.  I estimate about 75 came out of her suitcase, and we spread them out on tables around the room.  I had made a mini for the paint chip challenge which was one part of the show and tell, too.  The colors I drew were royal blue, light blue, and lime green, and the night we drew the colors, a floral in the same colors happened to be on the "free" table.  I just had to use it.

After the program, Sharon came home with me and we had a great chat about all sorts of quilting things.  She isn't a fan of the Studio 180 approach to quilting (sew it bigger and cut it precisely using specialized rulers) either.   She shared some hints for paper piecing and gave me a nice schoolhouse pattern.  I do think I should make more minis but somehow my quilts always end up so large.

Later in the week, I worked on my "convergence" quilt, begun after the Ricky Tims Luminarium.  The top was hanging on the design wall, waiting to be sandwiched, and I noticed it was crooked.  So I cut the borders off and squared it up again.  Then I added a new border and quilted it Friday.  It looks good.  I finished sewing the binding down to the back on Saturday at my other, smaller guild meeting where we do handwork while chatting.  Very relaxing and often very informative.

Also on Friday, I started pin-basting a sampler quilt made of blocks from an exchange with an online group, Moda "Blockheads" weekly blocks, and other miscellaneous blocks.  There were so many colors in the blocks that I sashed them with a black print which has a green vine with red dots.  I have the binding all cut and ready to put on whenever I finish quilting.  But I took a couple of days basting because, when I use the bed in the guest room, I need to bend over and, thus, was taking care of my back.  It's only 62" x 72" so will end up a nice throw.

This week:  house cleaning! emergency library board meeting!  more quilting!