Some more blocks done

Yesturday, before I packed it in for the day, I thought I would see how many blocks I could catch up on, for my list of required blocks per week.  I did the two weeks worth of these Rhododendron Trail blocks.  Yeah!!  I only have six more of these blocks left to do.  Then all the blocks will be done and ready to assemble the quilt.  That's exciting!

I also managed to get the two weeks worth of these snail's trails blocks done too.  Yeah, again!!  I still have to trim the blocks and then de-paper them, but I can do that another time.

That was it.  I was pushing myself by this time and decided not to overdue it.  Overall though, I am happy with what I got done.

Today is another day....  I am hoping to pick something else to work on and do it.  I am four weeks behind on my required Smith Mountain Morning blocks.  Maybe I can do some of them.....we'll see.

Take care everyone.

You win some, you lose some...

I haven't been sewing for about a week and a half now.  I seem to have lost my sewing mojo....  I have been caught up in work and training, as well has additional stuff with my health, and keeping up with household things, which didn't leave too much time for anything else.  When I did have some time, I chose to read more about things health related.  Currently I am learning about the circadian rhythm.

I don't like that I don't feel much like quilting.  It happens sometimes.  Today, I found out that this time, I am not alone.  I was texting some friends and they are experiencing the lack of desire to sew as well.  One of them mentioned it must be the February blahs...lol.  This weather can definitely have a baring on it.   Constant snow and minimal sunlight.

Today being Saturday, with no plans of things that have to be done, I decided I was going to go down to my studio and see if I can get inspired to do something.  Anything!  Just to see if I could jumpstart my mojo.....lol.  When that didn't initially happen, I decided to write a list of what was laying around unfinished and make a point of doing one thing.

In the end, I made binding for my hexagon quilt.  This is the fabric I decided to go with.

The binding angels must have been watching over for me......lol.  You could say, I was playing binding chicken and I won!!  Just barely....lol!  Now that the binding is machine stitched on the front, I'll get the quilt to my mom, so she can hand stitch the binding down in the back.

I was really glad that I persisted with some sewing,  It felt ok and the boost I had by just making it with the binding, made me want to keep going.  So, then I made another binding.  This one was a bias binding, as I chose to use a stripe.  I always like stripes on a diagonal.  This is what a pile of binding looks like for a king size quilt.  Doesn't look like much, does it?

I proceeded to sew this binding on by machine on the top.  However, unlike the quilt above the binding angels were on a break.....lol.  I was 17" short of binding!  The worst part is that it is a bias binding that I was short on.  I use the make a square method, which requires some calculations.  I even added an additional 6" to my numbers, but obviously it was still not enough...pooey!

Did you know that binding is my least favourite thing, when it comes to making a quilt.  But it is a necessary thing.  So, back to calculating what size block to make to get a bias binding that measures at least 25", and crossing my fingers that I would have enough of this fabric to make it.  It was a close call.  I had a piece that was just wide enough to get the required square.

Some time this week I'll take these two quilts to my mom's place for her to finish the handwork.  I'm not sure if my mojo is back, because I did have to talk myself into sewing.....but, I have this week off for vacations.  In my case a staycation, so maybe if I just do something each day, I can get back into it.  Wish me luck!!

Take care everyone.  Happy Valentine's Day!!

Starting the week out well

I'm starting the week out well with getting the two snail's trail blocks and two of the Rhododendron blocks done as part of my required blocks for the week.  It doesn't seem like much, but the paper piece blocks take quite a while to sew, fold back paper, trim seam allowance, place the next piece and sew some more.  I'm happy to say, that I am further along with the Rhododendron blocks, than I thought I was.  I counted and I only have ten more blocks to do!  Whoohooo!!!

After I decided to quit for the evening, I went upstairs to relax some.  That's when I saw the temperature block sitting there, pinned and ready to appliqué.  Just to keep this real and to explain the situation with the less then perfect picture.  I don't have a bunch of fancy equipment.  I take the pictures where I am, at the time of day it happens to be, and with no staging.   The block below is on a banana pillow, that I put on my lap to support my wrist, while I do hand appliqué.  

This is why the block looks all wavy....lol....and to add to this, if I want to do appliqué in the evening in my chair, I have to turn on the floor lamp, which is the yellow tone of light on the right hand side and the extra Ottlite daytime table lamp, which is the white tone of light on the left.....lol.  Then if I need to write up my evening post on my computer and the battery runs low, I need to unplug one of the lights to plug in the computer....lol.  Oh, boy...confession time or what!  I didn't realize how ridiculous/pathetic I have it set up, until now....lol.  Going to have to do something about my set up.

If anyone has any suggestions for lighting and how you store or put aside your work until you want to work on it again later, please share your best practices (pictures would be nice too).  At the moment the side of my chair looks like an unkept mess of various handwork items that I am working on.  They're all laying on my footstool.  Looks like an accident waiting to happen....lol.  There must be a better system.....  Let me know!

Take care everyone.

February's temperature block

As my daughter would say, I did all the adulting things....lol....so with all that stuff done, I decided to take some time to play.  There are a few required blocks for January still not done, but oh well.  I can catch up on those pretty easily some time this week.  

I got a late start yesturday, but I am still happy with what I got done.  By the time I went upstairs to make dinner, I had about half of February's block pieced.  I made this paper template that I shared with you a couple of days ago.  Today, I thought I would share with you a bit of the process.  All the wedges are roughly cut into a rectangle, until I determine the position of the seam, at which time, I then trim the one angle and sew it to the paper on the wrong side.

Because this is a circle I made a slit along the 1st and the blank 30th date, so that I can fold back the paper more easily and work with the wedges.  Above is the picture of the good side, or what will be the finished side.  When all the wedges are done, I will then fold the paper along the slit and sew the last wedge to the first one.  Then the circle will be complete.

This next picture is the back side of the completed circle.  I almost took all the paper off, before I thought that maybe some would like to see the process.  The middle seams are ironed up or down, alternating with each wedge, which helps if the position of the seams are the same when they are side by side.  In that case they would then nest easily together.

It was a bit late when I got this circle done.  I still have a few tucks to make here and there, but the circle is pretty much ready to be appliquéd to the background now.  It looks a bit odd at this stage.  Especially when there is a blank space, up toward the top, which represents the 30th day of the month.  Being that the block is for February, means there is no 30th day.  Hence the blank.  I did insert a wedge there, though you can't tell as it is the same colour as the background.

I have all month to get this appliquéd, however as I am excited to be back working on this quilt, I expect to have this done within a few days, baring having to do the adulting things....lol.  I just love that term.  It's a way of making fun of things that can sometimes seem like drudgery.  A positive spin on it....lol.

Take care everyone.  Have a great week.

Striking colourful tree branches (QW)

I'm still working on the pieces for the temperature quilt.  Yesturday I managed to sew each days high and low fabric together, for each month.  They are all in baggies ready to go.  Now I have all the fabric cleaned up and put away until I need them.  I kept February's block pieces out, as today is already February.....where did the time go!

Anyways, rather than bore you with another picture of just pieces, I went onto the achieves and came up with this beautiful quilt.  This quilt was made by a friend, way back in February/2024!  I've been holding on to these two photos since then.  

This friend really likes using batik fabrics.  This was a really nice use of the fabrics.  I love the meshing of colours at random and I really love the organic style tree branches.  The individual blocks are all different, as the pattern uses a rectangle to start off with, but then slices them up randomly for each one.  

The blocks are slices down the middle or there abouts.  Then you treat each side individually.  You can slice the one half twice or just one time, making a steep angle or a smaller angle.  It is completely up to you.  Then you insert a 1" strip to form the branch.  Once you're done both sides, you then attach both sides back together with a 1" strip.  Once your done, you would trim the blocks to a common size.

Here is a close up of the blocks.  All sorts of fabrics were used in here.  Enlarge the photo and you will see the variety that went in here.  The pictures do not do this quilt justice.  You'll have to trust me when I say that it was gorgeous!!  Up close, my eyes kept feasting on the assortment of combinations.  Fabrics that you wouldn't think to put together mingled quite nicely.

I would like to make one of these quilts, but using my scraps.  The largest piece of fabric needed would be the rectangles and I have plenty of strings that can be cut into 1" strips.  I'll have to add this one to my bucket list.  Mine would likely be a bit more tame, as I don't have all of these gorgeous bright batiks like my friend has, but I still think it could be affective.  I think I will like doing the improve piecing.

Take care everyone.

Star appliqué block complete

I've been working on a lot of things lately.  Mainly trying to get all of my required blocks done for each week.  That has been my priority.  This star appliqué block was the last block to be done for the month and just in the nick of time.....lol.  This is part of the Welcome to the North Pole quilt.  You'll notice that the stars are a bit organic....I don't know how else to describe it.  The shapes are not intended to be perfect.  The whole quilt is a bit on the organic side....lol.  Something I am going to have to get used to.

My next block for February is called Slick's Sleds.  Here is a sneak peek of the colours and pieces.  I've already rough cut all of the pieces for the block.  I have my overlay and I am ready to get started!

As the theme of this post started with stars, I thought I would throw this quilt in here too.  This was part of the show and share from one of the ladies in our monthly Saturday sew day.  She made stars.  This quilt is a gift to her friend who is retiring.  The quilt is lap size.  The maker knew that her friend liked things that are more on the feminine side, which is how she selected the fabrics.  I don't think there was an actual pattern for this quilt, or I wasn't told what it was, if there was one.  

It's interesting how it has the background pattern that creates radiating diamonds from the centre star block all the way out to the perimeter of the quilt.  It adds movement.  The play of light and medium fabric colours to make this subtle effect.  Then the maker added in a burgundy flange before adding the last two borders.  Very pretty.

Take care everyone.

Short update

Just a short update.  Yesturday I finished cutting all the fabric wedges I need to complete all the months for the temperature quilt.  It was interesting cutting them all at the same time and seeing the mesh of colours change throughout each block.  The picture below shows the warmer months.  The top page is July.  As I was cutting, I noticed that the hottest day of the year was in June, but the hottest month of the year was July.  Interesting....  I am sure there will be other things that stand out, as I actually put it all together.

Just for fun, I decided to take another picture of January's block that is already finished.  What a contrast to the months you see in the picture above!

I am happy that I am finished all the cutting for now.  The only cutting left to do will be for the months that have 31 days in them, as I will need to cut two circles to go in the centre.

Today after work, I am off to my mom's place for dinner, so the sewing of the highs and lows pieces will have to wait until the weekend.  I have some quilting to do as well, but when I need to take a break, I'll definitely work on these blocks.  I am enjoying preparing them.  This will also make it faster to assemble each month....I'm all for that!!!  lol

Take care everyone.  Have a great Friday!!