Starting back up on the spools

Do you remember these spools?  They were my leader/ender while working on other projects.

I had over the coarse of time made these, on and off.  I finally got to a point that I thought I had enough.  My design wall was full.  I enjoyed making these.

I needed my design wall for something, so took them down until a time that I would have a chance to organize them and start the assembly.  Well, that time has come.

One day during my holidays last week, I took all the blocks down to the basement and laid them all out on the carpet.  The basement is the only space big enough for these types of tasks and puppy free.

Now I have the blocks all sorted, labeled and ready to sew.  I keep the organized blocks in a divided box to keep them in order while I sew.  This also helps if I need to put it aside for a bit, this way I will not loose my places.

Not shown here, on the wall, the first roll is almost complete.  This quilt is on my list of twelve and has been moved up to my main work, with the sixteen patch pinwheel quilt as the leader/ender.

Enjoy your at everyone!

Out shopping with some of my quilting bee buddy's

Last week Tuesday a few of us quilting bee ladies went on a car ride to visit a couple of quilt shops. It was my turn to organize the outing.  I was so nervous that the places I chose would not be what the ladies were expecting.  I knew of the one quilt shop, but the place we went for lunch and the second shop were a mystery to me too.

I think the outing turned out nice.  For the first place I took the ladies to Waterford, Ont., for a visit to Quilt Junction.  I've written about Quilt Junction in previous posts, as I go there once or twice per year. It's a small converted train station by the river.  Quaint little place with a lot of new and old collections. 

These three fabrics are what I got there.  Two of the fabrics are reproduction civil war fabrics and the last one is part of a newer line.  I also purchased the magazine below.  I don't often get this magazine as it is not readily available here and when it is, it is expensive.  I can't forget that I also picked up some embroidery floss for when I start the Crazy quilt block, which is not shown here.

On the way back home and after lunch, we stopped to visit the Feathering Quilt Shop, which is in Dundas, Ont.  This was a first visit there for all of us.  It was a small shop that used all the available space to the maximum.  There was a conference table set up with sewing machines for class work in the one corner. The cutting board and cash register in the centre of the shop and the rest was dedicated to material and displays.

These are the few pieces of fabric I purchased from the sale rack. They are part of the sock monkey collection.  They will make a cute baby boy quilt.

Overall the weather was nice, there was no traffic to speak of, we were all in good company and we had a nice time.  It was a pleasant break during my vacations, to get me out of doing my renovations.

February versus March (March/2016)

I thought I would do another design wall status.   This one is for February versus March.

If you will recall for the month of February I was more or less putting things together, quilting and binding, that I didn't really need to use my design wall.  My daughter was motivated to do some sewing and took up the design wall.  

Above is a portion of her Fair and Square quilt, a pattern from one of Bonnie Hunter's books.  Since, she finished all the blocks with the green centres and all the scrappy stripe blocks.  The top centre is completely assembled.  She has since put it away for now as she contemplates what she wants to do for the borders.

Now above we have the picture of my design wall as it stands for March.  My daughter was still very motivated to continue sewing, especially because she had some free time during the March break.  She started doing some more assembly on her Remember Me quilt.  She has completed quite a bit of this quilt.  She now has the bottom 2/3 of the quilt assembled and blocks sewn together.  She only has the top three rows to do.  It is looking fantastic.  For this quilt she chose to use warm colours that resemble the civil war era.  Some of the fabrics are civil war reproductions and some of them just have the feel.

At the bottom of the design wall, I have a few more pineapple blocks done, along the border.  You may have also noticed the Midnight flight runway quilt was removed from the design wall and per previous post it has already been quilted.  I am in the process of tacking the binding down by hand.

I am really itching to get back to my floret quilt, that I see at the top of the design wall, but that needs to wait until I have some other handwork done first.  The floret quilt is not one on my list of twelve, so it has to sit a bit longer.  I told myself that once I get a few more things done from my list of twelve, I will give myself permission to take a break and work on the florets.  Right now though there are just too many handwork projects to be done from the list, not to mention the binding from all the other quilts on the list as they get completed.

Until that time, I keep dreaming of my floret quilt and of many others I want to start.  Putting restrictions on what I can work on has defiantly been productive, but I am starting to feel held back from my creativity.  I will have to do some balancing, to get a bit of both in there.  To balance the must dos with the want to dos.

Pictures of the finished Midnight flight quilt

The Midnight flight quilt is done, washed and delivered to the recipients.

This quilt was fun to make.  The more I made of it the more I wanted to keep it for myself.  My daughter and I are both sad to see this one go, but I am sure my niece and her family will enjoy it.

This pattern is from one of Bonnie Hunter's books, called More Adventure with Leaders and Enders.  The only alteration that I made was the border.  Bonnie's border is, as usual very beautiful, but also labour intensive.  As I needed to get this one done soon, I opted for a more simple border.

Here are two close up pictures.  The one above shows the variety of neutrals and dark blues that I used.  The only constant is the light blue and green chain going across the quilt.  You can also see the backing fabric I used, which is tone on tone navy blue, and the binding, which is a batik mix of the same blue and green of the chain on the front of the quilt.

Happy Easter Monday everyone.

Pictures of my completed Log Cabin quilt

I finally had a chance to bring my large log cabin quilt to the laundry mat to wash it.  It's a large queen sized quilt, almost king sized.   I laid the blocks out in a barn raising setting.  I really like how this quilt turned out.  

This one is for me.  I don't have many of my own.  The log cabin quilt has got to be one of my favourites.  I like them in any layout.  I just love the variety of fabrics used in each block.  I enjoyed making this so much that I already started making another one, but this new one is only 3 1/2" blocks and each log is less than 1/2".

Not sure if anyone recalls that this is the quilt, that the top was finished a while ago, but I never got around to quilting it.  When I decided to actually quilt it, I came to the realization that I didn't like the borders on the quilt.  One simple thing was holding me back from finishing the quilt.  So, I removed the borders and replaced them with something that I like better.

Here is a close up of the centre squares showing the quilting.  The dark logs are quilted with 1/4" echo along the inner edge of each log.  The light side has a flower and leaf vine that continues along the light band.  Up close you can also see all the different varieties of fabric used.

This next picture is of the backing.  It shows a bit better the quilting designs.  The flower design is a stencil.  The flowers are imperfect, as they are freehand/free motion quilting.  I like the imperfections. I also like the simplicity if the vine design.  This was an easy one to do and I would use it again.

Here is the border quilting.  This was a stencil that resembles waves.  This too was an easy design to quilt and easy to merge together, no matter how big the border measures.

Today we are heading to my Mom's for Easter dinner.  I am going to give my niece and her family the Midnight flight quilt, so stay tuned for tomorrow's post for that quilt.

Pictures of the completed Jean quilt

I am completely done the Jean quilt!!!  That was fairly quick.  Other than a short delay, only because I was distracted with other things going on around here.  The binding is on and the quilt is looking good.  I think a teen or pre teen will like this quilt.

Here is a close-up of the quilting.  I used the red thread to match the sashing.  I went with simple lines this time.  I felt the jean material and the simple blocks called for it.

We have a picture of the backing for the quilt (Fabric donated by a previous quilting bee member).

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this quilt.  The jeans came from my spouse, myself, some friends at work and my friend Carol's family.  The thread came from a person that used to professionally make drapes.  The batting also comes from my friend Carol.  The red sashing/binding is a purchase of 1 meter and the backing fabric comes from a previous quilting bee member Flo, who passed away.

This was an inexpensive quilt to make and something that was quick and easy. The fun part of it was that it used up stuff that people just had around the house.  I was able to use up things that others were decluttering instead of it going into the landfill.  The best part is that it will go to someone who really needs a hug.  Thank you everyone for your contributions.

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**   

Work in progress:  

3. Quilting - Lise's hexagon quilt (family)..........basted and waiting for quilting

4. Quilting - Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)

5. Binding - Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)..........two side of the binding are done

7. Main work - Spools quilt (my own)..........this is my next main work

8. Main work - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)
9. Leader/Ender - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (my own)..........waiting for some main work
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........moved to handwork section

11. Handwork - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........basting the last two blocks of five blocks

12. Handwork - Machine wall hanging (my own)

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........taking a short break

Total number of quilts completed - 8
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 10

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned) 

14. Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

2. Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family). 

6. Jean material quilt (charity)

Finished the quilting of the Jean quilt

Yesturday evening, I finished the quilting on the Jean quilt.  I did simple lines on either side of the red sashing and criss cross across the blocks.  I think it looks good.  I will show you the final quilt when I get the binding on.

You know, I was looking at the red cone of thread, when I finished and noted it doesn't even look like I used any.  The large cone was given to me by a lady that used to work professionally making drapes on an industrial sewing machine.  The cone is large.  I have been using it a lot, but like I said it doesn't even look like I touched it.  I like these cones, especially for quilting, because quilting uses up a lot of thread.

I also finished the binding on the Midnight flight quilt, but that will also have to wait until another post.  I want to take it to the laundry mat to wash it.  The quilt is too large for a good clean in my washing machine at home.  I want to bring my log cabin quilt to wash as well and that as well will be for another post.  I don't think I shared the finished quilt yet, but I will double check.

So with the midnight flight quilt done I will post my progress list.  There are some things moving along.........and some I haven't touched yet.

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**   

Work in progress:  

3. Quilting - Lise's hexagon quilt (family)..........basted and waiting for quilting

4. Quilting - Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)

5. Binding - Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)..........two side of the binding are done

6. Binding - Jean material quilt (charity)..........finished the quilting, moved to binding

7. Main work - Spools quilt (my own)..........this is my next main work

8. Main work - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)
9. Leader/Ender - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (my own)..........waiting for some main work
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........moved to handwork section

11. Handwork - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........basting the last two blocks of five blocks

12. Handwork - Machine wall hanging (my own)

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........taking a short break

Total number of quilts completed - 7
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 11

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned).  

14. Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

2. Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family)

Working on the Midnight Flight quilt

For the last couple of days, on and off, I have been working on the binding for the Midnight flight quilt.  I have a self imposed deadline of the Easter Sunday.  I want to have it ready to give to my niece and her spouse when we go to my Mom's for Easter dinner.

I have three sides done now, so my self imposed deadline looks like it may be achievable.  So long as nothing comes up in the meantime.

I put the quilt on the daybed, away from puppy.  When I looked back I saw a completely different angle of the quilt.  This way looks nice too.

I also had some time today to baste the Jean quilt.  It is now ready for quilting.  I am moving along nicely this week with getting some things done, both with renos and quilt wise.

Finished the top of the Jean quilt

Today is the first weekday of my vacations.  I have a lot that I want to get done, but since I did a bunch on the weekend, I've decided to take this day for me.  That means quilting.  I want some time in my quilt room to do the things that I want to do.  So far today, that meant sewing up the Jean quilt.

I finished the top.  I like the way it turned out.  The red grid/sashing really sets the quilt off.  This quilt is big enough just the way it is, so this one is not getting borders.

I am taking a bit of a break now, hoping the puppy will go down for a nap so that I can start ironing the backing and baste the quilt.  That would be nice.  I am going to take a page from Red Pepper Quilting and go simple.  Simplicity sometimes is the best option.

**Progress on my top 12 list (which turned out to be 18 instead)**   

Work in progress:  

2. Binding - Michelle's midnight flight quilt (family)...........half way done the 2nd side of binding

3. Quilting - Lise's hexagon quilt (family)..........basted and waiting for quilting

4. Quilting - Navy blue & cream quilt (my own)

5. Binding - Midnight flight runway quilt (charity)..........binding attached ready to tack down

6. Quilting - Jean material quilt (charity)..........finished the top, moved to quilting

7. Main work - Spools quilt (my own)..........this is my next main work

8. Main work - Mel's romance & roses quilt (family)
9. Leader/Ender - 16-patch pinwheel quilt (my own)..........waiting for some main work
10. Handwork - Reconstructed Dresden plate quilt (my own)...........moved to handwork section

11. Handwork - Lise's Dresden plate quilt (family)..........basting the last five blocks

12. Handwork - Machine wall hanging (my own)

13. Paper piece - Pineapple quilt (my own)..........taking a short break

Total number of quilts completed - 6
Total number of quilts left to be completed - 12

Completed quilts:
1. Quilted Flo's hexagon quilt (commissioned)

14. Sabryna's 16-patch pinwheel quilt (family)

16. Reversable crazy quilt & matching doll quilt (charity)

15. Log cabin quilt (my own)
18. Small wonders quilt (charity)
17. Scrappy stripes quilt (charity)

Busy, busy, busy

Busy, busy, busy.  Life is just so busy right now.  Yesturday, I did get another Dresden plate block done while at my son's hockey game.  He says that I am his good luck charm, as the last three games I went to, he and his team won the game.

So, for this last game I had to be there.  It was the last game of the season and it was for either first or second place.  I had to do everything that I did for all the other games.  For them I brought a Dresden plate to baste and he reminded me that I also brought Maddie's blanket as my bum warmer. Lol.

This next picture is him coming off the ice after they won the championship.  They came in first place. He and the team were quite happy, they didn't think they would win this particular team.

I am so happy for him and his team.  They did really well each time that I went and saw them.

After the game, my sister and her husband came over to help me with some renos.  My sister and I worked on the laundry room.  I have my cupboards in!!!  Yay!!! 

The cupboards are up and the framing is up too.  I am going to order some custom doors to match the cupboards on the opposite wall.  Later I am going to prime and paint the cupboard framing and once the doors are installed I will order the granite for the counter, the shelf just above the counter and the counter on the opposite wall.  I am getting there.  Almost done.  These things do take time.  It will probably take 6-8 weeks to get the doors and another 6-8 weeks for the granite.  Oh, almost forgot, once I get the granite I will need to install the sink and plumbing. 

Before my sister and I got started on the laundry room, her husband and I put up the lights in my quilting room.  Another Yah!!!  I can finally do some quilting when I want to do some quilting, instead of being dictated by the time of day.  The lighting in my room before was really bad.  After a certain time I couldn't see so well and had to call it a day.

Now my room is very bright.  So bright that my sisters words were that my room is lite up like a stadium.  We laughed so hard.  We went outside, at night, and noted the light is so bright, it lights up half the back yard.  So funny.  I do need to get a dimmer for the lights, so I can have it bright when I need it or regular when I don't.

I AM SO, SO HAPPY!!!  I am doing the happy dance. Two big things off my list.

That was yesturday, Saturday.  Today I was also busy at my sister's house.  We spent the whole day helping her clean out her gardens.  We got the front and back yards done plus the two sides of the house done.  I am sure she is happy too.  It doesn't seem like a lot of work, but if done alone would have taken so much more time than when done in a group.  We had many hands helping both yesturday and today.  We made short order of the work.

Crazy quilts

Crazy quilts.........they are so fascinating.  I have been looking at different samples over the past few days.  There is such a variety of stitches and embellishments out there.  At times it is overwhelming.

How does one pick the stitches to do?  Which stitches will look good together?  How much embellishments are too much?  I can go on and on with the questions.  Crazy quilts baffle me.  I would like to get the courage to make at least one block or maybe a small wall hanging, just to say I did one.  But......I just do not know where to start.

I now have a collection of velvet and valour, some ribbons and lace.  I'd need to get some special embroidery floss.  I have a book on ribbon stitches to make various designs and flowers.  I am working up to it.  Slowly building my courage.  I mean really, what is the worst that can happen?  That I waste a lot of time into a block and in the end I have to throw it in the garbage!  Really!!!

Yet I still sit here writing about it instead of doing something about it.  I think I am waiting for just the right inspiration.........

This block above certainly inspires me.  Maybe just a bit overwhelming.  I might chose to tone it down a bit.  But I wouldn't know how.  I love all those fancy stitches and the way they incorporate the ribbons and flowers.  Gorgeous!

We have this picture.  A sample of the different stitches you can use, and this being only a very small sampling.  There is so, so much variety, I'd want to do them all.

The picture at the top shows you how elaborate crazy quilting can be and this picture above shows you a simpler version.  This quilt looks antique, but it's hard to tell for sure.  This quilt maker mainly did crazy patches with fancy stitches along all the seams, with the odd block showcasing a motif or flower of some sort.  I thing the edges are really nice with the scalloped pieces.

Any words of encouragement?

Working on basting the last five Dresden plates

Well......this week has not been any better than last week.  Not much time to do any quilting.  Today I figured I would have a few hours to do some quilting, as I was going into work late.  However, that didn't happen.  I was off to the vet with puppy and kids are home on March break. 

Needless to say I didn't get back to the Jean quilt.  I did however find a bit of time to start basting the last five Dresden plate blocks.  As of tonight I have three of the blocks basted.

I am looking forward to this coming week.  I have the week off.  Hoping to get one day in of quilt shop hopping and some time in to do some quilting.  Besides that, I have renovations to move along with.

So, I am just plugging away here, one day at a time.  Eventually things will settle down.

Started the Jean quilt

Enough of the distractions.  This past couple of weeks felt like one big distraction.  Well today I got back on track.  I know now why I didn't start sewing the jean quilt.  I had it all laid out, labeled and ready to sew, but I kept putting it off.  Today it came to me.  I didn't want to sew it the way I had initially thought to do.

I was dreading the bulky seams.  So..... I came up with another way to sew it.  Still the same layout, but I took a page from another pattern and assembled the squares together like a reversable quilt.  The top "binding" is red and used to attach the jean blocks.  The jean material butts together with the red fabric holding it together just like a reversable quilt.  I am using red because the backing fabric has splashes of red in it.

Here is just a sample of when I started.  I worked on it all afternoon, once we got back from my son's hockey game.  Now I have the first four rows completely together vertically and horizontally.  The rest of the rows are sewn together in rows only.  I also have all the red fabric cut out to go between the rows.

Hoping tomorrow to continue on this quilt and get it done.

Finished prepping the reconstructed 6-point star

I have been taking it easy the last few days with quilting.  With going back into work daily, bringing puppy to doggy daycare, training someone at work and getting home later than usual, I have just not had the energy to do much of anything.

On the Sunday, while my daughter was again monopolizing my sewing machine, I kept trimming the pieces for the reconstructed 6-point star.  Well.....I am done.  Here is a picture of all the pieces trimmed.  This time I thought to put the completed blocks on top of the green cutting mat.  This one is vary calm, comparison to how bright some of the blocks are going to be.

A lot of the blocks are going to be on the bright side.  The quilt fabrics have a European feel to them with bright red with bright yellow flowers, some bright green with orange, blue and white flowers.  It is quite a mix of fabrics.  It is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I think, in the end I will like it.

Today is my late start at work.  I just said goodbye to my son, as he is off to school.  Now I sit here, on the doggy bed, while the puppy snuggles/sleeps and I do the binding on my nieces Midnight flight quilt.  I want to have this one done before Easter dinner at my mom's.

Enjoy your day.

Reconstructed bright 6-point stars quilt

As I was doing so well these past couple of days with completing the prep work on the drunkard's path block pieces, I decided to keep going with doing the prep work for the reconstructed bright 6-point star quilt pieces.

Yesturday, as my daughter worked on her quilt blocks, between naps, I starched and ironed all my pieces.  My daughter seems to be fighting off a cold, but determined not to let it take hold. I finished ironing all the pieces and organized them back in the drawer.  There they sit in piles, in the drawer, waiting for a time to come back out and play again.

On the bottom left hand side are nine half star blocks.  I think I am only going to need eight of them though, so will take one out later.  The remaining bottom two piles are the 20 sets already trimmed.  We have the top three piles that are the 48 sets all starched and ironed, waiting to be trimmed.  And lastly, not shown here are 4 star hexagon blocks completed.  They are sitting under the green cutting boards at the top of the picture.  This makes a total of 72 full star hexagon blocks.

The picture above is somewhat of how the quilt top will look.  There will be five full blocks and four half blocks going across the top and nine rows down.

I didn't get anything else done this day, as it took me the full day to starch, iron and sort, between taking son to hockey game, fixing lunch and dinner plus all the usual stuff one tries to get done during the weekends.

Today is another day.......  We will see what I can get done, or what I am inspired to do.

A bit more of this and that

Thursday night I finished trimming all the fabric for the Drunkards path quilt.  Now I can take them out as needed to fill in as leader/enders.

Friday this week was also a late start at work.  On these days, I can get some stuff done, in the morning after getting the kids off to school.  

This time I worked on some more pineapple blocks.  I managed to get five full perimeter blocks done.  These would be the ones with one corner in black.  The picture below is prior to being trimmed and de-papered.

It only took the four perimeter blocks to fill in the top half of the pineapple quilt.  Look!  Only one hole on the left hand side.  The fifth block I did, was going to go there, but I forgot that the side blocks are different than the top and bottom blocks.  For the top and bottom blocks I have to take out a blue corner and replace it with a black, but for the sides I have to take out a green corner and replace it with a black instead.

You will have to excuse the two different blocks in the middle of the quilt.  My daughter decided to put her quilt back up on my design wall.  She feels inspired to do some more.  I will let her do her thing.  I have plenty to do without the use of the design wall.

Enjoy your evening everyone.

Drunkard's path quilt, also known as Old Maid's Puzzle

Aha!!!  It felt good having some time in my quilt room this evening.

I had the homemade spaghetti sauce cooking in the slow cooker all day, finished work and headed for my quilting room.  I started trimming my daughter's fabric for her Remember Me quilt.  She does not like the cutting part.  I don't blame her, the rotary cutter is pretty scary when you think about what it can do.  Even adults who are careful have had incidents with them.

As I was in the mood to continue trimming, I decided to take out the material for my Drunkard's path quilt, also known as Old Maid's Puzzle.

 

Here is a picture of one completed block.  I have two of them done so far.  I need a total of 35 full blocks to make the quilt top.  The layout is 5 X 7 blocks.  Each full block requires 16 small blocks, 8 of them with the white arches and 8 of them with the coloured arches.  That makes a total of 560 small blocks.  So far I have 103 small blocks done.

This quilt is going to be a spring quilt.  With soft but cheerful colours.  Mostly blues with pink, purple, yellow and some soft greens.  No brown, black or burgundy.  

Here is what I managed to cut this evening.  To make one set I have to make a total of three cuts from a 4" block. I cut a white and a coloured fabric, which gives me one small block with the white arch and one small block with the coloured arch.

I also cut all the fabric needed to complete the rest of the blocks.  They are paired up in sets of four.  I cannot cut more the four layers of fabric at one time, otherwise the shape would start to get distorted.    This is what is left to trim.

I think during the summer last year, I was using these blocks as my leader/ender, but had to stop because I had no more pieces trimmed.  I am getting ready to get back to this one, but the sixteen patch pinwheel quilt is going along very well as my leader/ender.  Once that one is done I will put this one in it's place.

It is just after 10:00 pm and I am now ready for bed.....5:30 am will come around really fast.

Enjoy.