Waiting...

...for my friend Yve to let me know if the quilt I'm making her to give as a gift will be twin or double bed sized.  I finished the curved log cabin quilt center a few days ago and it is still hanging on the railing upstairs.  I love the way it turned out, but it's too small to cover a double bed.  Yve's friends are trying to decide what size will fit in the little girl's room, but I hope they figure it out soon.  I want to finish with borders, get the back put together, and hand it off to the quilter when I see her at the state quilt guild meeting October 29.  I was on a roll, but now I'm getting involved in other things.

Today I finished the purple row by row quilt I did with an online group and sandwiched it for quilting.  The rows ended up not being in the order shown.  I put floral strips between the rows and set two of the rows horizontally, making it a big wider than the original 36".  That meant I had to add some odd scraps to get everything to fit.  It ended up at  45" x 55", so I managed to anchor the rows and start some detail on the blocks this afternoon. 

I'll keep quilting on it a little at a time, improvising as I go.  I love this sweet little quilt, but it really has turned out to be a baby girl quilt.   Will it sell on etsy?  Or should I give it to the library to raffle off?  Or should I put it in the auction at the library banquet?  We'll see! 

Some gifts and a start

I've been working on mug rugs to give to the library staff at the Friends and trustees' staff appreciation dinner after Thanksgiving.  Usually I get little party favors - chocolates, funny socks, etc., and this year I wanted to make something. No fabric or batting was purchased, just scraps! Here are the 13 I made.

I also made a mug rug for a secret pal and will be mailing that eventually.  She asked for a winter one.  It's a swap, and I'll be getting one, too, in a winter theme.  I can't show a photo here but will take one to post in December.

Over the weekend, I also finished a quilt top using half square triangles that I received ages ago in a swap.  I have set it aside for the time being as I wanted to make some smaller things - instant gratification.  I'm not participating in the craft show I've been in the last two years, so I have more time to finish projects.

Of course, I had to start another one, a block of the week called "Be My Neighbor" by Moda. The blocks are 18" high and I'm planning to use stash for it.  Here are the first two blocks.  I have the pattern for the next block, but have set it aside for the time being.  It has a sweet little bird to applique, and I'm thinking of using wool for that.  Will have to see if I have any blue in my stash of wool.

Curved Log Cabin and more

I've been hard at work on a variety of projects lately, especially a curved log cabin using the same fabric as the "Bloom" appliqued quilt with a variety of black and whites.  It looks great!  I used a Fons & Porter pattern I found online that makes 9" blocks.   What makes is curvy is that the colored sized logs are 2" wide, while the b&w logs are 1 1/4" wide.  When you put them together, you can make shapes like circles and even seahorses.   However, mine are just being set on the diagonal, and it looks so pretty!  I'll try to take a photo when it looks more like a quilt.  Without much wallspace, I use a bed for my "design wall" when a quilt gets larger.

I'm at the stage where I've laid the blocks out on the bed and am sewing them together.  I often simply stack the blocks up in order, but I don't want to mess up the order so I'm being more careful to pin each block to the next in a row.  This quilt will be for a little girl in Canada as a favor to my friend Yvette.  She isn't sure if the bed's twin or double, so I will wait and see.  If it's twin, it won't need much of a border.  I'll make it scrappy and plain.  If it's full, I'll need to order a bit more fabric for a wider border of one of the prints from Amy Butler's "Violette" line.  Hope to hear soon.

I am meeting with Barbara this week to figure out what she would like in terms of a tote bag for her daughter's birthday in December.  Guess I'll track down some of the totes I've made myself and see what size handles, pockets, etc. she'd like.  She asked me back in the early spring and now December is fast approaching!  She has fabric, she says, so that's a plus.

I'm teaching an applique class October 8, so I started gathering materials for that yesterday.  I am planning to use some of my class samples for mug rugs this holiday season as I'd like to make each person on the library staff one.  There are at least 13 people.  Every year the Friends of the Library and the trustees have a staff appreciation dinner, and I usually buy little gifts - funny holiday socks, ornaments, chocolates - for the staff.  This year, since I'm in both organizations, I thought I'd make something they can all use.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I can get that done by the Friday after Thanksgiving!

Bloom is finished

I finished the little "Bloom" quilt this morning.  The blocks are hand appliqued using Lori Holt's block of the week "Bloom" pattern, but the fabric was so wild that I only made 12 blocks instead of 20.  Someone in my guild is using Holt's fabric and is it adorable. 

I have a lot of the bundle of Amy Butler's "Violette" fabric left, so now I'm working on a curved log cabin with those fabrics plus black and white prints.  Then, I hope I can go back to my comfort zone!

Busy!

Above is the Colorado row in my row by row experience quilt.  I have nothing to show but have accomplished a lot lately.  Sunday, I spent the whole day in my sewing room.  It was cool with the AC on, and I was on a roll.  I finished quilting the little "Bloom" quilt, based on Lori Holt's appliqued flowers pattern.  She sold a batch of plastic templates, which I bought because of some of the odd shapes - ovals, small wedges, etc.  I stitched in the ditch on the sashing, outlined the flowers, and stippled around the open areas of the blocks.  I had some trouble regulating the bottom tension, but I love the way it looks on the top.  It ill be a nice crib or wall quilt, so I need to devise a hanging sleeve before I bind it.
 
Wait til you see the binding which is a ripply stripe of the same "Violette" collection by Amy Butler.  It's all very outside my comfort zone, which is why, in between quilting sessions, I started cutting out the same fabric as I used in the "Bloom" quilt for a curved log cabin, using black and white prints for the "neutral" logs.  The wide logs are 2" while the smaller ones are 1 1/4".  I held off sewing anything together until I finished quilting "Bloom," and I'm thinking of binding this in the same ripply stripe.  It will, I hope, end up being throw-sized.  I like the way the blocks are looking so far. 

A neighbor, Denise, asked how I got so much done, and I guess it's that I work a little bit here and there a lot of days.  This morning I spent a half hour sewing the binding pieces together.  I probably won't do any more sewing today until later this afternoon, when I'll iron the binding.  There are a lot of days when I don't sew much, but I do a little every day, and then spent some days, like Sunday and Monday, doing almost nothing but sewing.  Denise thought I had a long arm machine - ha!  It took me almost a month to quilt the round robin quilt.

Two finishes

Yesterday was sunny so I set up my quilt rack and took some photos.  It turned out to be way too windy, so I had to take them indoors - OK, but not as light as I'd hoped.  Here's the round robin quilt that I'm going to send to my cousin Jeanne.   I hope she likes it!

I love the fabric called "Lady Slipper Lodge" but I have quite a bit left over, including a charm pack.  I may give it away sometime.  This round robin involved four other quilters who greatly enhanced the simple  "trefoil" block I made for the center.  I did the outer borders, beginning with the darker purple one, to get it to double bed size. 

I think it took about a month to quilt, very carefully on my home machine.  I used a lot of thread!  The back is simply muslin.  I bought several yards of 90" wide muslin for backs and still have enough for at least one more quilt. 

Next is the throw I made with rows and fabric from this year's Row by Row Experience, an international activity sponsored by quilt shops.  Each shop had a unique row and a fabric license plate.  I exchanged plates with some quilters in the US and Canada and incorporated some into the quilt.  I still have plates left over that might make a cute tote bag. 

I used a "quilt as you go" method on this one, quilting each row individually and then putting them together.  The center rows are all from Vermont shops, and I loved quilting Dorothy's yellow brick road.  The row on the left came from a shop in Colorado, but I adapted it a bit due to its very complicated pattern.  I needed one more row, so browsed online at shops in New England's rows.  One shop's row was simply four maple leaves, so I created my own.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but all the stems are made from the license plate fabric used at the top and bottom and as the binding. 

There are still three crib-sized quilt tops hanging in my closet waiting to be quilted.  I hope to start on one this weekend although I may work on something smaller today.

Maine

We took a minivacation to Wells, Maine this week.  Last year when we visited, it was really hot and muggy, but this time the temperatures and humidity were ideal and there were nice breezes.  Our friend Christine has a house a stone's throw from the ocean which is just great.  We enjoy having time to talk about all sorts of things with her since when we're all home we are busy with "life."  We arrived Tuesday and just hung out.  Christine loves watching the Red Sox games with Paul, and he likes having someone who actually cares to do it with.  I could really care less about sports on TV but do watch once in a while.

Wednesday, Paul and I drove to Ogunquit just down the road a bit and sat by the water watching the tide roll in.  The beach there is very nice, and there are nice benches and Adirondack chairs.  Later, we drove up to the Trolley Museum and took a ride on a restored trolley.   In all the years that Christine has been coming to Wells, she's never been there.  I am impressed that most of the staff are volunteers, some commuting from Boston to work on the old trolley cars and drive them.

Christine drove us through Cape Porpoise and Kennebunk where we had lunch at a brew pub overlooking the marina.  It is always fun to watch the boats come in and go out, and there were kayakers also wending their way through the traffic.  In the evening we attended Almost, Maine, a romantic comedy at the Hackmatack Theater.  All in all, a fun time!

And here's a picture of Christine's dog Molly who just wouldn't hold still for a portrait!