Sewing up a storm

I spent a good part of last week making bow tie blocks for the swap and then playing with fabric for the class I took Tuesday online.  My pile of 8" bow tie blocks is quite high although I didn't count them yet.  I'll probably make a few more, but for now, I've set them aside.  I have piles for the swap, about 25 for myself, and ten for Debbie.   

The class, "Blocks Unlocked," with Jennifer Houlden was very interesting and fun.  There were only four participants so we had plenty of time to ask questions.   We were encouraged to play around with a very basic block, adding squares and rectangles, then half square triangles and rectangles, and more.  Each person had different ideas which we got to share.  

Our "homework" is to come up with a design that we want to pursue.  I tried a variety of designs, and I now have a collection of potential potholders!  The gray background seems too dull, yet the green border is too overwhelming.  I like the string fusible circle but can't see making a full quilt out of it.  And my trial stretched out flying geese were too much fussy work.  The best turned out to be the variety of half-square triangles with some solids thrown in.

Feeling like I should settle on a colorway, I rejected a batch of fat quarters I initially thought might work in favor of a turquoise and peach scrappy look.  A sampler of sorts is beginning to come together.  I have a nice white background with occasional small triangles in turquoise, orange, and other colors scattered throughout.  

I made six blocks using some of these little blocks and other scraps.  Getting a 9" square is difficult somehow, but at least all the blocks end up the same 8 x 8.5" size.  Will see what ideas today's class brings.  I might just turn these blocks into a few table runners!

Meanwhile, it's been lovely weather, and over the weekend, we took a long walk in the town forest and played croquet with the neighbors.  Then neighbor Gale and I did a drastic pruning of an overgrown lilac in hopes to encouraging more blossoms at a lower height.  Now the humidity is building, and we might just need to turn the heat pump's AC on for the first time this year.

Seen while reading numerous blogs

 I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading after 3 weeks away and saw this at QuiltingGail...

This Quilty Ode was on posted on Facebook by Fons and Porter. It was written by Eileen Fowler, the editor of Quiltmaker and Quick + Easy Quilts.

Elephant parade

When some online quilting friends proposed a swap of elephant blocks, I wasn't sure I wanted to join in.  I have no grandchildren and am not really into making kids' things.  Then I realized I could give the quilt to Bags of Love, a local organization that supplies kids going into foster care.  I've made other quilts and knitted items for them.  My local guild is also having a yard square quilt challenge, and this resulting quilt truly fits the bill.

Five other quilters made blocks for this quilt, and I enjoyed putting it together.  We all used Kaffe Fasset-like fabric on black, and I love that one elephant is facing the other way.

Also for the yard square challenge, I'll show my very scrappy Omicron Cabin, a twin (more or less) to Corona Cabin, which I made at the start of the pandemic.

This is also headed to Bags of Love.  I made this with "strings," but I have lots of them left over.  I'll be making something else with strings sometime soon.

Snow day = Sew day

 The weather people predicted terrible weather for yesterday - snow beginning in the morning Thursday and lasting til Friday afternoon.  Wrong-o!  I had run out for provisions on Wednesday and planned a sewing day for Thursday.  But it rained all day until about 4 pm when it all turned to something that became snow.  I wonder if it's icy underneath.  Guess we'll stay in again today because it's still snowing.  I planned another sewing day anyway.   Actually, I'm procrastinating - should be doing my taxes!  I do have a beef stew in the crockpot and am washing the shower curtain, so I'm not really goofing off.

Wednesday, I made a couple of purple house blocks for the RSC (the "official" color is turquoise/teal but I don't have a lot).

The bigger house is from a Moda pattern called "Brick House."  It's very easy and uses 2.5" strips.  I love the sky on this house - it's my last bit of Downton Abbey fabric.   The little houses are foundation pieced, one by Carol Doak and the smaller one from a pattern that came with the pattern printed on light fabric.  I actually prefer paper piecing for a lighter result but this size house is pretty cute.

Next on my agenda were this month's four 6" pineapple blocks which I sewed together into a larger block.  I now have 14 of these in all colors, but I'm making at least a year's worth more to make a decent-sized quilt.  These blocks use 1.5" strips for the most part, and it's fun to dig to the bottom of my bin for a trip down memory lane.

I took a little time to make a block from a bag of "crumbs."  I find making these quite tedious because they go together best if you stop, iron, and square up after each seam.  A 6" crumb block is really the best I can do.  

As I cut other projects, I put larger but otherwise unusable scraps into a ziplock bag that I keep near my cutting board.  I make the blocks a little larger than 6" and also put the cuttings into the bag as parts for the next blocks.  These will probably end up in an orphan or very scrappy block quilt at some point.

Steadily working

 

Wish I could say I have finished something in the last few days, but nope!  Not happening!   It's been a busy week.  Tuesday, I made two batches of Chex Mix which I divided for gifts (kept just a little for me and Paul).   I did a bit of reading in between stirring every 15 minutes while it all baked.  I'll bake some cookies over the weekend and will put some in the freezer for after the holidays.

Wednesday, I helped set up and clean up a luncheon for the library staff.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it, including the bowl cozies and soup mix in a jar I'd made them.  One person reminded me that one year I gave everyone Christmas socks - she had just worn hers the previous day.  I am glad the Friends of the Library can do something like this each year for the staff who have been working super hard to keep service going.

In between holiday stuff, I've been putting the quilted blocks of the "big block sampler" (for lack of a decent name) together.  After I quilted each of the four strips, I have been putting them together, one at a time, hand sewing the back seams and then machine quilting the sashing between the sections.  Fitting the sections together is a bit tricky but looks good in the end.  Cornerstones are essential to keeping it all square.

Above is my favorite block in the quilt because it used so many 2.5" squares and some of my stash of half-square triangles, too.   I enjoyed quilting each block separately, even the appliqued one.  Each block finishes at 16".  It feels good to end the year with a very scrappy quilt.  After I get the sections together and cream borders on, I'll decide about a final border - scrappy, strings, plain?  I'll wait and let the quilt "talk" to me about what it wants.

New scrappy blocks

 

I've been playing around with scrappy blocks of various sizes lately.  I'll probably put them all in the same quilt, but for now I'm just playing.  Every day I make a new block, usually one I've been thinking about making for a while.  It's fun!

The first block is based on something I saw on Bonnie Hunter's blog (Quiltville.com).  The pattern was "Kira" by Gudrun Erla, and I just figured out dimensions for a 6" block using 2.5" scrap squares for the flip and sew corners.  Four blocks came together nicely.  I might make a few more of these blocks because they go together very quickly.

The next block was Odd Fellows Chain, another 16" block that just looked better in a non-scrappy look.  The turquoise/purple batik came from Soni who was de-stashing.  I need to do a little of that, too!

It's fall

 

This is not a block I remember making, but I made it for a state quilt guild exchange a couple ofyears ago.  I love the soft colors.   I enjoy making leaf blocks in the fall, and this arrangement has always appealed to me.

This is the best time of year for us - cooler nights, crisp mornings, sun and warmth in the daytime, sweaters or fleece, apple pie, chicken pie suppers.  The latter will probably not happen this fall due to COVID - again.  It is fun to go to at least one in the fall, though.  People sit down with strangers, often those just passing through the state, and chat like old friends.  I hear that St. Monica's church will be having a take out chicken pie supper, so I may arrange one of those.  We went out to a restaurant a few weeks ago when the COVID cases were down, but now that they are up again, we carry out again once in a while.  Everyone is wearing masks in most public places again.

I've been working on some bigger blocks using scraps lately.  I saw something similar to this 16" star block at right and had fun digging through my scraps to put it together.  I have boxes of 2.5" squares and half square triangles, so I only had to make a few more HSTs.

I have another appliqued piece from the Piece 'o' Cake The Best Sampler Ever to work on.  I went through various websites and old magazines to find a few more 16" blocks I can make.  I am tired of the grind of blocks of the month, and I will try hard not to work on any more in 2022.  But I will eventually make my four orange pineapple blocks for Sept. and may make more in the coming months.

A Little of This and That

It was a busy weekend because of the Friends of the Library book sale.  We hadn't had one in over two years, and throughout the pandemic a small group of us boxed up any donations that came in so that they could be stored at the printer's across the street.  We have 80-90 boxes over there, waiting for our annual sale under the big tent.  That will happen next summer.   Meanwhile, we still have a mountain of books at the library.  So we're holding three sales in hopes of making room for more donations as they come in.   The next sales are August 27-28 and October 1-2.  It's exhausting work but it helps support the many programs the library offers for all ages.  Rockin' Ron the Pirate was there Saturday, and they had an overflow crowd at Senior Day a few days before.

I did manage to squeeze in some sewing here and there, including this month's blocks for Harriet's Journey.   I can't decide how I'll set these blocks and thought I'd try making those pink and white alternate blocks to see how they'd work.  I may simply sash the blocks in white with various colored cornerstones, although I like the top right block as a possibility, too.  

I have 32 blocks made, and there are about 100 or so blocks in Chiaverini's quilt.   I'll go until I'm sick of making them.  The paper pieced star looks easy but ended up very wonky.  But I really enjoyed how the chain block turned out.

This morning, I pieced a back and some batting so I could baste my Pop Stars quilt (a Missouri Star pattern).  Then I started quilting it in random curves up and down the quilt.  It's a little tedious, but I'm liking the look so far.  The quilt measures about 54" x 59" so will be nice for a crib or child's throw.   

I worked on these star blocks as part of the monthly Rainbow Scrap Challenge.    They are easy to make, if you can remember from month to month how they are put together.  I always had to look the instructions up.  I only bought a little dark gray for a few blocks and the outer border.  All the rest is made from scraps.

I

All caught up

 Over the last few days, I worked on my Harriet's Journey blocks of the month and made a couple of "secret pal" gifts from scraps.  It feels good to have these blocks of the month done with days to spare.

Each month I try to make eight blocks from Jennifer Chiaverini's new sampler book.  These are assigned by Dotty D., another quilter on the quiltingboard.com who has organized a sew along.  My friend Beth also belongs.  This month's 6" blocks were fairly straightforward, except one was a fiddly applique and another was too complex for me to even contemplate.  So I got out Pat Sloan's Splendid Sampler and chose two blocks that I hadn't made while working on that quilt a couple of years ago.  

I love the "Moody Bloom" fabric I'm using for this sampler, but sometimes the larger prints don't show up as well as they might with larger blocks.  That's why I substituted the blocks with the large floral center and tiny hourglasses.  For the hourglasses, I made larger ones and cut each one down to 2" square.  I also tried to use snippets of most of the fabrics I have in the block with the heart in its center (which I did hand applique).  This was a fun set of blocks to make.

For my secret pals, I made a mug rug to send soon in a mug rug swap and a zipper bag to hold the things I'm sending later this summer to another quilter in a birthday swap.   

Both projects were made with 2" and 2.5" squares and Vermont "license plate" panels.  Sorry I didn't get a photo of the mug rug which had 2" squares with a license plate on one side and 2.5" squares on the other.  Neither made a dent in my stash of scrap squares! 

 This leaves me wondering what to work on today.  Maybe an appliqued block to exchange at the state guild meeting in the fall?

The satisfaction of small projects

It's been a gloomy weekend, just right for finishing a couple of smaller items.  First was a class sampler I designed for an applique class I taught years ago.  I made a similar one in black, white, and red that I turned into a tote bag for my sister Jacqueline.  This one, in '30s fabrics, has just been shuffled around owsince the class at least five years ago!  I thought I'd turn it into a pillow, but now a doorhanging seems like the perfect thing for spring.

I quilted it very simply, going around the main items, adding some veins to leaves, and embellishing with a few wavy lines across the basket.  I turned the border to the back for a "binding."  It will go on our door next weekend for Easter.  The hanging on the door now is really faded, so I have to remember to change my door quilts a little more frequently, even though the door faces north so never gets direct sunlight.  The storm door seems to reflect light anyway.

The next little quilt (17" square) is made of leftovers - from this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery and a rejected guild block of the month.  I may put it on the door or may just set it on a table in the living room sometime.  I do love this color combination - gray, pink, and blue - with lots of scrappy neutrals.

Both pieces are made with muslin backs and leftover batting.  How satisfying to finish these, though, after months of working on bigger projects!

A new start

 It seems that whenever I finish a quilt, I almost immediately start a new one.  Yesterday my neighbor (he's definitely not a quilter!) was surprised to know I usually have about 10 quilts going at once.  And they are all on the "slow go," but they do get finished eventually.   I think I counted 16 finished so far this year, quite a record for me.

This year one of my local quilt guilds isn't meeting until at least January, if not later.  I volunteered to coordinate a block of the month raffle as well as a block swap for the year.  For the raffle, I will come up with a 6-9" block pattern and draw a name each month for people to mail their finished blocks to.   I thought I'd start with a nine patch for the first block and make the blocks a little more difficult each month.  People can also make a block to keep for a sampler.

For the block swap, I ran a poll first and a slight majority wanted to make Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World block.  It's 12" finished and is a nice stash buster because it's made with just six 16" x 2.5" strips.  I have a lot of leftover binding pieces that I cut up yesterday to get started.  I wanted to make a sample for people to see, and I noted that a single block isn't all that pretty.   I am learning that, with scrappy quilts, you need lots of variety and color to make them work.  

I hope people in the group (10-12 of us are making two blocks for each person) will persist through this swap.  They have all year to make their blocks and then we'll swap either in person or some other way in May.  This past June we all met in the classroom at our local quilt shop, all wearing masks, and swapped our blocks out.   It was good to see everyone, even though it was a very quick session.  We'll just have to wait and see, as with so many activities these days.

Decisions

I got my "block robin" blocks back on Saturday, after touring around the area with five other quilters in one of my guilds since October.  Every month, I made a block or two myself to go along with the ones others were making.  Now I need to figure out how to put them all together.

The spaces in the middle are where I plan to make three more blocks similar to the rainbow one so that the three Dresden Plate blocks become a focal point for the quilt.  I'll put that together and then figure out where all the other blocks are going and how many more I need to make.  I would like to end up with a twin-sized quilt at least.  The blocks finish at 9" and I still have about 1/2 yard plus scraps of the black background left.  To sash or not to sash?  Cornerstones? On-point or straight on?

I need to go to the quilt shop on Thurs. to give Marie my Good and Plenty II quilt to longarm.  While there, I'll look and see if they still have some of the black left.  That may well guide my decisions.  Meanwhile, I'll enjoy moving the blocks around, squaring them all up to size, and thinking about the possibilities.  

Finishes

Yesterday I worked on the April blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month's colors are bright and light blue, but I was low on those colors due to making the sky on My Small World and using light blue in a few other projects recently.  But I managed, of course.  I made four blocks even though I had previously made three.  I just forgot how many I had made before.  

Such is the way of life these days.   This is the last day of the four week long Stay Home - Stay Safe, so I have become confused as to which day of the week it is.  No wonder I am confused about other things!  The Governor has extended this period to at least May 15, although he did say he might open things up sooner for construction workers and others who work outside.  This will be good for Chris who is itching to get outside to mow lawns.  Even with last night's sprinkling of snow, grass is waking up.  Our Governor Scott is doing a great job in all of this.  We don't agree on most things (minimum wage, sick leave, etc.), but he has been calm, reasoned, and smart during this health emergency.

I am ready to block the blue silk scarf I've been knitting for the last year.  My ironing board is too long, so it hangs over a little bit, but I'm going to use it instead of a bed.  Easier on the back.  It really looks a lot prettier in person - there is a blend of colors in the lacy pattern.  After blocking, I'll weave the loose threads in, which is my least favorite part of knitting.  I started making a cardigan for myself, knit on round needles.  I am sure it will take forever to finish, but I try to do at least one or two rows a day while watching TV.

Scrappy finish

The string quilt with scrappy back is quilted and bound.  We even had a sunny day today so took some pictures.

 It's destined for the hospital's children's department. 

What I can never understand is.. why is it that when we set out to use up scraps and tackle a couple of bins-worth, when we get finished we find we have hardly put a dent in that stash of scraps?

I could probably make another one but, having made two string quilts this year, I think I have hit my limit for a while.  Now to finish up some other tops that have been waiting for quilting.

Quilting a grid

I finished the 2" square side of the reversible quilt yesterday, sandwiched it, and started quilting.  Here they are in their unfinished state.

It shouldn't take long to finish them, and the binding is all cut out and ready to add when I do.  But I do have "yoga for back health," a get-together with Cindy and Sandy, and a Democrats meeting today, so it may be manana.  That's OK, too.

Using up scraps

Earlier this week, I finished a 50" x 50" string quilt top, but I didn't have enough fabric for a back, so the dilemma was - should I buy some or piece a back?  I even went to Joann's but still couldn't decide.  I'm waiting for some fabric from Craftsy but have decided to use that for two other tops in the closet.  I have four quilts waiting for quilting and lots of odds and ends of fabric, yet nothing large enough for a back.

Not to decide is to decide.  I ended up diverting my attention by making a top out of some pretty pink and teal floral fabric I'd gotten from Meg.  It's a polyester blend, but I like it, and the pattern was marked "easy."  It's been so long since I made any apparel that I had forgotten that the sizes of patterns are larger than read-to-wear.  Because the finished top is way too big for me, I took a few tucks in around the neckline and may add to the side seams before going out in public.  It looks like a short muumuu now.  As my mom would say, "it will be cool for summer."  The urge to make clothing again has quickly faded!

After that intense morning, I went back to scrap quilting, tackling my box of 2" squares and a bin marked "muslin," which in actuality includes lots of creams and neutrals.  Cathie had posted a photo of a mystery quilt she'd made. 

I decided to try it with my scraps and am now half-way through another smallish top.   The blocks finish at 6" and it's coming along really well.  It is destined to be used...  as the back of the string quilt!

Goose in the Pond

 

Earlier this year, I took an 18" red, white and blue block out of my "Orphan" box and put it on my design wall.  Every time I worked on something else, "Goose in the Pond" in red, white and blue called to me.  Last week during the big snow storm, I started thinking that it would make a good center for a medallion quilt.   My sister Jacqueline had sent me two nice pieces of red fabric that would go well with it, and the various books and websites I looked at offered more ideas than I could deal with.

I designed it as a one-woman round robin with the following rounds:

  1.  Blue and white stripes with mitered corners which I sewed by hand to make the stripes match

  2.  Hourglass blocks in red/white stripes and white

  3.  Friendship stars with white backgrounds and square-in-a-square corner blocks using a fabric printed like redwork

  4.  More blue and white stripes but perpendicular this time

  5.  Chubby piano keys in various shirtings and red scraps

  6.  Blue and red strips with friendship star blocks in the corners

You can see the outer border corner a little better in this picture.  Now that it measures 58" square, I have stopped for a while - or maybe forever.  Maybe not.   Maybe 12" Ohio Star blocks around the outside?  The current last round is fairly heavy and dark; I kept moving it out to the edge for balance. 

This was an exercise in measuring.  One night even I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking about the measurement of the next round. 

This was a good process for me - look at an orphan block for several months and finally get inspired to use it.  Maybe I'll do it again soon with three 12" Civil War blocks that seem too nice to use embedded in a quilt back.

Next on my to-do list

I have been working on the wool appliqued block, about 20" square, since before Christmas.  It's made of scraps of wool, a small wool charm pack I bought last summer, and a piece of gray cotton.  I tried to do some fancier embroidery stitches which you can't see in the photo.  The pattern is by Kim Diehl and appeared in a magazine (American Patchwork and Quilting?) a few weeks before I started.  I think my friend Jan is working on the same in cottons, but doing the whole quilt.  This week I hope to design a border of purple scraps and get it ready for quilting as a wallhanging.

To the right of the block are some scrappy rose squares made in December based on a book by Karen Eckmeier.  I thought I might make some every month out of different colored scraps and put them together at the end of the year.  I am never good at keeping to those block of the month plans, so we'll see how it goes!

The gray quilt for Bennett is coming along.  I finished the big center which measures 54" square, and I have made pinwheel blocks using cut-offs from the squares.  I'll use those for a border to get the quilt up to at least 65" square, but I need to take a little inventory of my grays first.   I have another project - a swap of Missouri Star blocks - that needs grays also.

It is good to have all these projects in the queue because our weather seems to have taken a snowy turn.  It snowed all day Sunday, it's snowing right now, and a big storm is predicted for tomorrow.  I ran out to the store for provisions.  We are prepared! 

Pre-vacation sewing

I told myself not to start anything new since we are leaving in a couple of days.  But when my pre-trip chores are done, my hands have to keep busy.   I usually do mindless sewing when this happens, so the other day I made a bunch of 6" selvage blocks to add to my stack.  Someday I'll have enough for a quilt, but not yet.  I did use up a lot of selvages, and I now have only very long (72" or so) strips left to use as ribbon for packages and such.   I've been gathering stuff for the month we'll be away - lots of it!  There are tote bags with extra linens, food, cooking supplies, books, electronics, sewing, etc. all over the house.  Saturday, we'll just load them up and head out.

Meanwhile, yesterday, since all my selvages were used up, I started on a new scrap quilt.  I didn't want to cut much, but just start sewing.   This one uses 2.5" squares which are all precut scraps from previous projects.  I keep a box of 2.5" squares as well as boxes of half-square triangles and 2" squares handy.   I saw this pattern in a blog recently, but mine has multicolored squares and black scrap strips.  I made three 16" blocks in just a few hours yesterday and aim to make a smaller charity quilt with 9 blocks.  It looks really nice so far.  My collection of 2.5" squares really hasn't diminished much - amazing how scraps tend to spread out as you use them.