Working on my Reversable Crazy quilt

I've had these blocks for the Crazy quilt done for some time.  I had the quilting done for quite some time too.  Now it is time to get this quilt done.  I need a finish for this year.  I am very behind on my own goal/progress. The year is coming to an end soon.  Got to get a move on it.    

It's not like I haven't completed any quilts this year, but they have been other people's quilts.  Now I want to get at least one that I can add to the list that I do for myself.  Well, when I say for myself, in this case I am referring to a quilt made solely by me.  This one is a giveaway quilt.  I have not decided yet who or what charity group it will go to, but it will not be mine to keep.

The crazy side of these blocks was from the smaller scraps in my basket.  The other side is a couple of fabrics that I used as plain blocks.  The sashing/binding will divide the blocks so the same fabric is not touching the same fabric. For the sashing/binding, I chose a navy blue for the crazy side and a turquoise blue for the plain blocks.

The technique of assembling the blocks and quilt comes from a book called, Reversable Quilts by Sharon Pederson.  Basically she gives you the measurements to cut the sashing/binding for each side. On one side you sew them on at the same time.  Once that is done you open up the small sashing/binding and sew it to the other side of the block, or in this case the other side of the row.

The one thing that you have to pay attention to when sewing the rows together is, that the sashing/binging for the row below it are lined up.  The best way to do that is to place your row on top of the second one and lift the edge to see if it is lined up.  Pin it in place so it does not move while sewing. 

This next picture is a view of the other side.  The sashing/binding is the light blue. It also lines up to the row beneath it.  When I open up and press the sashing/binding, I sew in the ditch of the dark blue side and it sews the light blue down along the edges.

This is a great technic to use when you want to practice or want to learn how to do the quilting designs.  You can use larger blocks and use the quilt as a sampler quilt for your quilting.  A different quilting design for each block.  I did mine all the same in this one.

I will show you a picture of the quilt when it is done.  I plan on adding borders to the quilt too.  Wait and see.  

Prepping for my grab and go tin

Yesturday I was still cleaning up the quilt room.  I finally finished ironing and sorting the scrappy fabrics for the hexagons.  Today after bringing my son to his hockey game, I cut up some of the vintage fabrics that I had here to increase the variety of scraps.

This afternoon after running out to get some bristle board for my son to do his project, I got started on cutting the rest of the yellow, I cut all the purple and a lot of white.  These three colours are the consistent parts of the quilt.  The rest is scrappy. 

So now I have some of the scrappy hexagons cut and ready to start with the florets.  I need fifty florets to complete the perimeter of the quilt inner border.  In the tin I have ten different fabrics to start with, but in the picture up top you can see that I will have at least another thirty, if not more.  There are still many diamonds to disassemble.  When I get to them I will build my stash of variety.  I need six hexagons of the same type of fabric to make one floret.  

I am quitting with the hexagons for today.  I have a lot to work with.  When I start to run short I can always cut more.  I now have my grab and go tin ready to go.

Finding my quilting room

Let me just say again, WOW!!!  It has been a crazy week!

Today I finally got a chance to get into my quilting room.  What a mess.  Sometimes it ends up being the dumping ground for things to take care of later.  So, today I spent time trying to find some surfaces.  I washed and ironed my yellows that I am thinking of using for the P.S. Don't forget to... pillow. Ironed all the blocks for it too.  They are sitting in the basket on my cutting table, waiting for me to have some time to assemble the pillow.

I washed and ironed all the light fabric that I picked up from my mom's last week.  They are ready to be cut.  I also started ironing the small bits of fabrics for the hexagons.  Slowly I am starting to see my cutting board and the ironing board.  I don't dare show you the table behind me.  Piles of stuff to deal with, but hey, it will get done.....eventually.

This evening I did do some more ironing of the bits and pieces for the hexagons.  There is a very nice variety of fabrics and many will have enough to do a floret with all the same fabric for their petals.  My quilt will only have fifty florets.  So far I have about thirty different fabrics with enough to make the floret, but I can see there are more that I haven't ironed yet that I will be able to use.

Looking forward to Friday after work. I need to recover from the hectic week. 

Five days of crazy

It has been five days of crazy here. I can hardly believe it has been so crazy that I haven't been able to post. No pictures today. Haven't been able to work on much.  The only thing I did get done was on Sunday, another corner of the Hexagon quilt and I started doing the finishing edge.

Maybe tomorrow as it is my late start at work, I will have something more to post.

Salvaging the unused hexies

Today is Friday, at our house it is often movie night.  I ordered pizza and decided to come disassemble some hexies until it arrives.  This is a picture of the unused hexies.  Before the pizza arrived I went from ten piles to seven.

I am taking the paper out and putting the pieces through a wash to test the fabric.  I want to know how strong they are before I go through the exercise of putting a whole quilt together by hand.  My laundry bag is more than half full, as I had some rectangular fabric pieces given to me as well.  After I wash them I will take the time to examine them, iron them and sort them.  This is when you get personal with the fabric.  Sounds silly I know but it is like getting a feeling for the fabric and determining where in the piecing it will go.

I believe these pieces were in the unused bag because the hexies were not quite up to snuff.  These hexagons were made by someone else.  Someone different than the two hexagon quilts I am in the process of quilting.  The shapes and the way they were put together were very different.  You can tell just by the way the person positioned the paper on the fabric.  Another clue was the way the fabric was attached or sewn onto the paper.  Even the type if thread was different.

The above picture shows why I had to take them apart.  Hexagons are like a puzzle piece.  Each piece fits into the next to create a quilt.  If someone had tried to put these ones together, they would have gotten very frustrated.  None of the hexagon sides are equal.  I think these hexies were the rejects, but the fabric is still great.  I am going to put these pieces through training and get them into shape.  We are going to have the greatest team ever, by the time this quilt is done (Yes, yes, I know, the little games I play, but they help me make life interesting).

Someone asked me one time why go through all the bother?  Why not just start fresh with new fabric?  I always find the questions difficult to answer.  There is something therapeutic about helping the original maker bring her dreams of a finished quilt to completion.  I always wonder about the makers.  Like, what they were thinking when they made a particular design change to a pattern to make it their own.  Why they chose a specific colour or layout.  I am also drawn to the older traditional patterns and older fabrics.  You just cannot get that from new fabrics of today.  Even the reproductions do not have the exact feel and variety that was available from an older quilt.  Now a days we tend to be all matchy, matchy.

I find it difficult to explain, but in my heart I just feel that they are right, that they are perfect, in all their quirks and imperfections.

Sewing machine applique

Last night with the weather, I got home an hour later than usual.  It ended up being a fend for yourself dinner and me rushing to go pick up an extra person to get to the quilting bee.  Some people cancelled, but the fact that the person who hosts the bee is just down the street and across Renforth, I was not going to miss it.  I had finished my pillow blocks and didn't have anything ready in my grab and go bag.  Last minute choice was to take my Sewing Machine Appliqué wall hanging with me. 

I started the wall hanging a little while ago.  The kit was a gift from the husband of a past quilting bee member who passed away.  Her husband asked for some assistance to finish one of her quilts for him to keep.  How could we say no.  So one person provided the backing, another person sandwiched the quilt, I quilted it and attached the binding my machine and another person finished the binding by hand.  It was a joint effort.  Each one of use having the opportunity to say good bye.

The wall hanging/table runner is called Comfort by Barbara Cherniwchan - Coach House Designs.  How fitting.  The finished wall hanging measures 43" wide x 19" high.

This is what I have done of it.  So far, I completely assembled the base/background, added the stems and flowers, did some of the sewing machine (the rest goes on later after a few more pieces), and now I am attaching the ribbon that swirls about on the opposite side of the machine from the flowers.

What do I still have left?  I have to do the spools of thread, the basket of yarn, the bird and the remaining parts if the sewing machine.  I would say that I am over half way there, probably 3/4 of the way done if you consider the time it took to make the base/background.  Instead of all in blues, my wall hanging is in the blacks with other colours for the accessories.

I like how it is looking.  I think I am going to get back into this one and try to get it done.  I know exactly where I am going to hang it.  I have a spot right over top of my armoire unit where I have my old sewing machine that looks just like the wall hanging.  I'll hang it there.

Plans for a hexagon quilt of my own

All this quilting on a hexagon quilt has really peaked my interest in making a hexagon quilt of my own.  I went online to check out different layouts.  I wanted to stay with a period layout, so nothing extremely complicated.  Something more traditional.  I was very surprised at all the different images you could find online.  Some basic layout to some really modern ones.  I think the layout would only be limited by one imagination.

This following picture was a layout that I found of an antique quilt.  After finding this one I kept looking and found even more of the same.  The only difference was that the diamonds online were of a single row of hexagons and one of that had three rows.  I am sure in this wide world of quilters, that I will not be the only person to make one with a double row of hexagons, but I didn't see any yet.

All of this is going to be possible because of the extra pieces I was given by my cousin.  I received the hexagon diamonds, a lot of extra singular hexagons and all the small squares pre-cut that were cut to make more hexagons.  Below is on of the hexagon diamonds.  They are all scrappy fabrics.  Some are older and most are from the 40s-50s.  I have to dismantle these diamonds to reshape the hexagons and change the centre hexagon to yellow.

I am a visual person.  I plan in my head for the most part, working out all the kinks and when I am ready to commit I will draw it out in good copy to confirm my thoughts will actually work.  In this case the drawing helped me to note that going across my quilt from, left to right, I have to have an odd number of full sized diamond and end with a half diamond in order to make the florets end in the right spot, to complete the inner border.  For the height of the quilt I can make the quilt however many full diamonds I want so long as I end with a half diamond.  In this quilt the diagonal corners will be mirror images.

In this diagram you can substitute any colour scheme you want.  For me I am making mine scrappy.  The only three colours that will be constant will be, one the white/off-white for the grid between the diamond and in the inner border between the florets, two the yellow that I am going to use for the centre hexagon of both the diamonds and the florets, and thirdly the purple/lilac colour for the two small rows of hexagons that run along side the floret inner border.  That leaves all the blue space which will be scrappy like in the photo above.

On Monday evening before heading out to pick up my daughter from work I had about 30 minutes to start cutting up some hexagon patties to make my hexagon English paper piece quilt.  In the picture below you can see I am using the specialty ruler that I bought a while ago, anticipating making a hexagon quilt.  You can also see the yellow that I am going to use for the centre hexagons.  The lilac I am going to use is the same solid fabric I am using for the centres of the Dresden plate blocks shown in an earlier post.  

Tomorrow is Wednesday and so I have a quilt bee meeting.  That is when my friend Carol is going to bring me the off-white for the grid of hexagons.  The off-white is called winter white.  It is white enough to look bright white, but off a bit so that the old vintage fabrics do not look dingy.  For now I need to continue to cut hexagons and some rectangles of yellow so that I will have some handwork to do in my grab and go bag.

Progress on Mom's redwork quilt

When I was at my parent's house for dinner on Saturday, I remembered that my mom had mentioned to me some time last week that she finished her centre of her redwork quilt.  I took a picture to share with everyone.  It is turning out beautiful.  She had to finish the centre to make sure of the size before she could trace out the redwork pattern on the large border.

My mom had some red fabric and I shared some of my reds with her to give her some variety.  I think it is the variety of the reds that makes the star almost look like it is vibrating.  Mom also decided to use many different reds for the redwork flowers.  It really is pretty.

Yesturday, outside of the morning, I was quilting the Hexagon quilt.  I finished a full corner of the quilt and I am starting up the last round of one of the sides of the quilt.  This quilt is going to have an envelope style finish to retain the shape of the hexagons along the edge, so I am quilting everything except the very last hexie row.  Once I cut the batting and backing to finish off the edges I can go back and finish this last row.

I am getting there.  Slowly but surely.

Updating my list and washing blocks

Yesturday I was doing a bit of this and a bit of that.  In the morning I washed all the small blocks for the P.S. Don't forget to... pillow.  I wanted to get the pencil marks off before I sewed the pillow together.  I have some yellows and some blacks washed and ready to cut up to finish the blocks.

When I was having my cranberry herbal tea I was going over my list of quilts to do.  Sorted out the order that I want to try and finish some of them.  My year end is coming up so, it's a race against the clock.  Seems that every year around this time I am checking out what can be finished.  This year I finished quilting seven quilts for others and on my side of the list I only have the two bears made by both my mom and I and the two fairy pillows done.  Many things almost there, but with Christmas this close, it may be iffy trying to get anything completed.  I'm not worried though.  I am enjoying what I am doing and that's the important thing.

After this my daughter came to remind me that we had some running around for her to do.  On the way home I picked up some fresh buns with lettuce and made some chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.  Later I did get some quilting on the Hexagon quilt done.  Not too much because I was off again, this time to my parent's home for dinner and to help my mom move furniture.

While I was quilting I had company.  My daughter decided she wanted to spend some time in my quilting room with me.  She was working on her French project.  She was feeling creative in my quilt room.  Look at what she did.  The project was a poem about herself.  She created and drew the border treatment.  I thought it was pretty.

Dating a quilt -the floret hexagon quilt

This morning, my daughter and I had a bit of an interesting time.  I was telling her about finding out how old an actual quilt is.  There are clues left in a quilt with the pattern the fabrics and the style.  You sometimes can get confused when the quilt is made with really old fabrics that you cannot get an actual date for, but only a guess based on the mood of the fabric.  The guessing game goes on and on with debates about this and that.

There is also the possibility that the quilt was made by a person in a particular time period from their own stash, but there is also the possibility that it was made by another person 20-30 yrs later using the fabric found in the attic of the first person.  As well you can find a quilt in a quilter's house that was actually make by someone else altogether.  Unless you have someone who remembers watching a person actually making the quilt, there will always be a small piece of assumptions and doubt.  

We make assumptions to the best of our knowledge, based on the clues obtained during our observations and details given to both verbally or in writing.  When all is said and done the saying goes that a quilt is only as old as it's newest fabric.  This is true enough.  You cannot have made a quilt in say 1940 if the last fabric purchased was in 1980.  

That said though, there are some acceptable situations when it comes to older quilts, as long as the providence of the quilt is not misleading.  An example of this would be where a person has an old top, but would like to finish the quilt by having it quilted, so they can use or display it.  For the providence of this quilt, it is not wrong to say that the "top" was made in 19?? and later quilted in 19??.  The providence is really just the history of the quilt.  With the providence, the quilt will still hold it worth, based on the details.  To me and many others, a top is always better quilted in order to preserve the history and help halt the deterioration of the older fabrics.

This morning I was showing my daughter one of the hexagons that I took out of the floret hexagon quilt.  It looks like a piece of a comic book.  Another clue to look into to determine the age.  After examining the outer edge of the quilt, we found another piece actually the same as the one above.  Later we thought we hit the jackpot when I spotted this next hexagon with the month on it.  The excitement is building.  Unfortunately, there was no year on it though.  So we keep looking.

And we keep looking some more.  With the above hexagon paper found our interest was so heightened we could not stop.  Not much time pasted before my daughter exclaims she thinks she found a year.  We examine the paper and sure enough we find the year.  

We now know that no matter how old some of the fabric used to make this quilt are, the quilt itself was made in 1940.  Depending on how quickly the person made the quilt we don't know, but I can say that it would be fair to say that the quilt was made during 1940-1950.  How exciting!!!

Finished the last block

I finished!  I finished!  My last block for the P.S. Don't forget... pillow is done.  Maybe some time this weekend I can start trimming the blocks and getting the pillow together.  There is still a fair amount of work to be done on it but I am over half way done.  Stay tuned for the progress of assembling the blocks and adding the trim.

Yesturday while reading with my son I went online to check out some different layouts for hexagon quilts. Wow, there was so much to look at.  There were many different layouts from basic Grandmother's flower garden to these extreme works of art with colour placements to form dynamic shapes within a completed quilt, and the hexagons ranged from hand size to the insane 1/2" size.  All I can come up with to express what I saw was, wow!

While looking at all the images, I also had a chance to check out some other blogs out there.  The amount of creativity out in blog land is amazing.  I have an extra seven more blogs to read up on.  Some date back to 2009 to present.  I really enjoy checking out what others are up to.  People love to share their ideas and many others will comment on their own view points.  It's a great way to communicate and learn from people all across the world.

I am off to go read some of the blogs.

Working on the last block

Quiet day here quilt wise. Just writing a quick message before I go read with my son. The only thing I have been able to do quilt wise is start the last block for the P.S. Don't forget to... pillow.  This last one is called *create*.  Should be able to finish it tomorrow after the teacher interviews.  We will see.

Sorry for cutting it short today, but not much more is happening.

More progress on the quilting

I don't have a picture to share with you today because it was all quilting on the hexagon quilt.  I had the day off today. So, today I had a full day of uninterrupted quilting time.  The only interruption was my own stomach growling, telling me it was past lunch time.

Today was also a time for all day Bonnie Hunter Quilt Cam.  Quilt Cams are online video sessions where Bonnie will assemble blocks or quilts.  They are each about 90 minutes long.  I do quilting or sewing while listening to Quilt Cam.  You don't need to actually watch it, you basically listen and from time to time look up to see a picture that Bonnie is showing.

How it goes is Bonnie sets up her camera in her basement studio and spends time with you talking about this or that while sewing and answering questions that people email her during the show/session.  People will ask her stuff like, what is she working on, how do you do this or that, what is her opinion on a particular something, when is she going to be doing a class in their neighbourhood and other stuff like that.  It is a time that she squeezes that extra time out of her day to do her own quilt stuff, but with company.

When I have Bonnie on, it is like having a friend sewing right along with me.  It's informative too.  I usually don't catch her when she is live like a lot of other people do, but what's great is that now all the sessions are archived.  On her site she has sessions from as far back as March 2013 to now.

While I was watching today, session after session, I was quilting the hexagons.  I managed to get 48 florets done today.  I thought that was amazing, the most I have done thus far in one day.  Another whole round.  I am at 60% of the way done now.  I only have one round of 56 florets left to do to reach the sides of the quilt.  From there it will be one side at a time, either the top or the bottom.

Now I am taking some time with my son to write this post and read some.  Enjoy your evening everyone.

Snowmen A to Zzz... Letter H

By last night I managed to get another complete round of the hexagon quilt done.  This round had 42 florets.  Next round has 48.  Only two more rounds to go to reach the width of the quilt, and after it will be the top and bottom left to do.

As I didn't do anything other than quilt the hexagons, I thought I would share a photo of another block my daughter finished for her Snowmen A to Zzz... quilt.  It is the letter H.  H is for holly.

The believe block is done

I am starting the day off late today. After a very late night last night, I actually slept in. I couldn't believe it when I looked at the time, but I must have needed it.

This morning while having my tea I finished the second last block of the P.S. Don't forget to... pillow.  Now I can work on the last one called *create*. 

Yesturday I worked on the Hexagon quilt all day, until the kids decided they wanted to watch the last of the Harry Potter movies in the series.  We have been watching them one per weekend in order with the stereo sound.  Really nice with the sound effects.  The thing with the last movie is that it is actually two movies, and the kids wanted to watch them in a row.  So from 3:00 to 9:00 pm with a short break to eat dinner we sat and watched.

After the movie though I still wanted to try and get one complete round of hexies done.  By about 10:20 pm I was done.  I was cheering myself on.  Yay!!!

Since I set myself a goal to scrubbing down the upstairs bathroom that day, up I went to do it.  I feel good that I accomplished everything I set out to do yesturday, and some.

Today I work on some more hexagons.

Started the second last block

This morning while having my cranberry herb tea I sat and did some hand work. This is the second last block of the P.S. Don't forget to... blocks.  This one is called *believe*.  Green, beige and brown done, now red, yellow and black left to do.  Maybe later when I take a break from quilting the Hexagon quilt, I can do some more.  Hoping to make some headway on the quilting.  Other than a short trip to the library with my daughter, I should have the whole day to work on it.

Another P.S. Don't forget to... block done

Another P.S. Don't forget to... block done, only two more to go.  This is the *inspire* block.

Today was my late night, so I had approximately two hours this morning to do some quilting before going in to work.  I finished off another round of the hexagon quilt, plus a couple of florets on the next round.  Slowly but surely they are getting done.

Yesturday at our quilting bee someone brought in a whole bunch of quilting magazines.  Instead of doing any handwork, everyone was flipping through the magazines and checking things out.  So many different quilts to suit many different tastes. By the end of the evening everyone had their preferences and took them home to read.

This time change is really affecting me

The time change on the Saturday night and starting back to work from a week off, has made these last couple of days a bit draining.  I haven't spent any time in my quilting room over the past two days, didn't even have time to go work out.

Tomorrow I will be at our quilt bee meeting.  That will be nice, usually sparks some energy.  I think I will bring the last three small blocks I have to do for the P.S. Don't forget to.... pillow.  I haven't done much of that recently either.  But I can say I have been productive.

On Sunday I finished cutting out all the reds I had for the Romance and Roses quilt and the background fabric too.  I cut the background fabric the length I needed for the borders and marked that so it would not get use elsewhere.  I wanted a full length for each border without any seams.  I did a sample block of the red to check that the fabric I was cutting was the right size.  Now I will put this away until I get a chance to start this up.  It may be some time soon.

While some of the girls from the quilting bee were out last Thursday, one of them who has a cottage suggested that maybe we should all get together for a quilting weekend getaway.  That perked up many ears. Everyone seemed really interested.  We will be organizing a quilting retreat.  I for one am very excited.  My first quilting retreat with a bunch of girlfriends sewing, chatting, eating and all around having a great time.  Who would say no to that?

I have my featherweight sewing machine that I will take and a few quilt projects to sew.  One of them could be the quilt above.  Having things all cut out like this makes it fast and easy to put together in a chain fashion like leaders and enders.  I will also take a handwork project for those time that we just hang out.  The good thing about hanging out with other quilters is that they don't get insulted when to chat and do your handwork, because they are doing it too.

It should be a blast.  Will let you in on what's going on with it as we get closer to the time.  Enjoy you evening everyone.  I'm going to go sit and read with the kids.

Productive week

Well, overall it has been a very productive week, not only with renovations but also in my quilting room.  I have been working away on the Hexagon quilt and while taking breaks here and there sorting different projects out.  I started a few things and finished some.  It feels good when things come together.

Above is a picture of the twenty-one blacks and greys cut out for the Romance and Roses quilt for my nieces and below are the twenty different reds that I still need to cut for the quilt.  The reds are sitting on the base/background fabric of the quilt and a close up of it is in the picture below that.

This quilt requires seventy-one black or grey blocks and seventy-two red ones.  So I will be busy with this one, when I get to start on it.

Here is a picture of the other quilt I will be making with the blacks.  This whole quilt is cut out too.  I will talk more about this one when I am ready to start working on it.

Today my plan is to finish off cutting the red and background fabric above, quilt some more on the Hexagon quilt and quilt an inscription on the Irish chain quilt for my third niece.  All of that will keep me busy the whole day and some.

Little carry bag for my iPad and needlework tin

Last Thursday morning before meeting the ladies for our day trip to The Quilting Bee, I had a few hours after seeing my son off for school.  I took advantage of the time by making a little carry bag for my iPad and needlework tin that I carry with me for when I have time to do things.  On Thursday morning I managed to get the bag section done.  See the picture below.

The fabric was a few small pieces that I picked up from my friend Carol in her at home store, while picking up the white fabric I initially went to get.  I have to make a point of not going too often as I tend to walk out with more than I was supposed to get.  Not that I am complaining this time because look what I get out of it.

I ran out of time and material to finish the bag.  I didn't have any more black to do the handles.  Guess what I got from The Quilting Bee when we went. Yes, amongst other fabric for my niece I also got the black.

Today was very productive.  I cut all my black fat quarters, of which there were eighteen different fabric designs.  As I was making another pattern with blacks and beiges I cut those pieces first so that I could use the left overs from that pattern for the red and black quilt I am making for my nieces, in order to have the variety.  I also cut out all the different black fabrics for my nieces quilt (seventy-one blocks) and one each for my bow tie quilt.  All the black is now gone.  The few pieces that were left went into my 1 1/2" strip drawer.

After the black I cut out all the creams and beiges that I need for that other quilt to go with the black pieces.  That quilt is completely cut up and ready to sew whenever I can get to it. 

My daughter was helping me with all this by sorting the fabrics and making sure I didn't miss anything pieces.  My son was away at a friend's birthday party all day.  As it was just my daughter and I here, we ordered a pizza and had a girl's movie night.  Chick flick it was with The Bodyguard. 

When I got back from picking up my son this evening I went into my quilt room to make sure everything was picked up.  But I got distracted and started cutting the solid black fabric that I got for the handles of the carry bag, and you know that I couldn't just stop there.  I had to sew them too.

It is now past eleven in the evening, I am trying to get my post in for today and saying to myself, enough.  I am now off to bed.