Playing with a new stencil

Not much done today, as I worked overtime again today, but I did take a bit of time to play with a new stencil I got on the weekend at the longarm meeting.  We were challenged to see what we could come up with, for quilting designs or how you could use the stencil for marking.

I thought the squiggly echoed lines done in a chevron across an open space might look kind of neat.  I showed some examples of what you could put between the lines too.  Maybe in every other space.  Who knows.....  The options could be endless.

It's time to retire for the night, but I don't think I am done playing around with this stencil.  If anyone else has ideas, please let me know.

What is presently under my needle

I've had another busy and productive weekend, running around getting things done and working on customer quilts.  I've had such a good long weekend (for me) that I got a chance to work on a quilt of my own.  This is my bear paw quilt.  I have all the quilting figured out and right now I am working on anything quilted using brown/rust coloured thread.  That would be all the paws, sashing between them and the large border.

Once I get down to the bottom, I will switch to cream and do the sections between the claws of the bear paws and move on to blue to finish off the sashing between the blocks.  Three passes to this one and I can't waste any time,  as I am scheduled to start another customer quilt this weekend.  On top of that I am working overtime all week with my full time job.  Busy, busy, busy, but I am not complaining.

When I have only little spurts of time and while I am not quilting on the longarm, during my spare time I am piecing my border for the braided star quilt, from the Guild workshop.  I have all the blocks assembled in rows and I have these borders almost done.  Just need the greens to finish them off.

I can't believe it is almost June, can you believe it?  Where has the time gone.  Come Friday it will be June and another number from the American Patchwork & Quilting  Facebook group will be announced.  I had hoped to have this quilt done for the month of May, but that may be asking for too much.  I will have to settle for the fact that I have made progress on it.

Enjoy the remaining days of May, especially with the beautiful whether we have been getting.

May's 3-way BOM blocks are done

Sunday was our monthly meeting of the South-Central Ontario Stitchers group.  It was another great meeting.  Comradery amongst the group is good with everyone eager to learn and meet others in the same field.  Quilting can be isolating, as it is generally done alone, but getting together with likeminded people is really nice.

When I got home from the meeting I was so energized that I decided to finish making my three blocks for May.  Just in time!

Just a reminder, the blocks are part of the 3 Way Block Sampler Quilt, by Tracey Russel from Whirls n Swirls in Oshawa.

This first blocks is the modern version.

This next one is the traditional block.

And this last one is the freehand option.

I am doing these blocks to expand on my quilting skills and learn more techniques.  Tracey is providing numerous options in all the different quilting styles, which will help expand our repertoire of free motion designs.

I've been checking out the Facebook group and I'm enjoying seeing everyone else's fabric choices. What a variety!

A little confession

I always knew that spending time on Facebook, Pinterest or the like was dangerous.  There are far too many Quilter's making beautiful quilts, wall hangings, etc.   Plus you can disappear into these electronic apps and not surface for a long time.  Before you notice it, hours have gone by.........or like the other day, you get inspired by something you see and go in a different direction.

I confess, it looks like I have started yet another project!  It's not like I haven't got enough going on, but this one was just so cute, I couldn't resist.  

I saw this inspiration on Facebook.  A woman was posting how she receives a large box of theses 3" basket blocks which finish at 2 1/2" square.  I thought to myself, WOW!  My brain, being mathematically inclined, starts examining the pieces figuring out how big that would make the smallest pieces.......  It just took off from there.  I was intrigued.  I was hooked!

That day I was working my full time job, but during breaks I would rush to put this all together.  I did a drawing of the block on graph paper, and thought to make the templates.  I later reminded myself that I have EQ and can quickly draft it there, so the program can make the templates for me.  By the end of my lunch, I had the pages printed.

But it didn't stop there,  I was still hyped on the tiny basket blocks, so after I finished work, I sat at the machine and made this block.

Isn't it just the cutest thing?  These little blocks will finish at 2 1/2", that makes those tiny half square triangles finish at only 1/2".  I say "these" blocks, even though there is only one in the picture, because I just know I will not be able to stop there.  I figure I will probably make a miniature quilt.

So..........another quilt is born.

A little funny - my daughter's timing is impeccable.  Back up just a bit, my daughter for Christmas gifted me a mug.  On the mug it say, UP TO NO GOOD.  This is my quilting mug, lol, as I am usually up to no good while I am quilting.

It always happens!  Whenever I get into my mind to experiment and try something new, even though I know I shouldn't, in the middle of making the trial block, my daughter "the warden" of keeping me in line and helping me keep my UFOs manageable, she instinctively knows, because she always chooses that time to come see what I am doing.  I don't know how she does it!  Sometimes I play a game of trying to see if I can get it done before she comes wondering down to my quilt room, but every single time, she catches me in the act......lol

I guess another confession is in order.  I do have a bunch of singular blocks made up.  I don't consider these blocks UFOS.  I think of them as orphan blocks, unless the mood strikes me to take that single block and make more.

How many UFOs and orphan blocks do YOU have?  Thanks to my daughter, I have a manageable 31 UFOS at present.  I charged my daughter with the task of "the warden" and she takes her job very seriously.  We have fun with it and joke around about it often.

Did more of To Grandmother's House We Go

I am still, from time to time, finding some time to sit and sew.  Mostly I've been catching up on all the binding I need to do, but I did get a bit further on this scene from To Grandmother's House We Go.

While I work away on this winter scene, I am constantly thinking about the flowers and fragrances in my garden.  This time of year I am torn between sharing my time with my passion for quilting and for my gardens.  The days are now more beautiful outside.  The weather is not yet too hot.  

While we were getting my mom settled into her new home for the past two years, my plans for my gardens have been at a standstill.  This year will be the year to get some things done.  I have already started with making a walkway, just to the right of this garden.  If you enlarge the picture, you may see the path that I started, where my baby girl/Maddie is standing.

Without enlarging the picture, I am sure everyone caught sight of the Muskoka chairs.  Thanks to my daughter who was bored one day and decided to paint them for me.  I bought the paint last year, hoping to get the chairs painted.  I thought I would step out of my comfort zone and go with a wild or flashy colour.  I think I have achieved it with this colour........lol!  They are definitely a focal point.

I was drawn outside to take this picture while I was letting Maddie out for a bit.  I was standing just inside the door, when I took in a deep breath of the fresh air and caught a whiff of this pretty lilac bush.  This bush is still young.  I planted it I believe three years ago, maybe four.  This year is the first year for the abundant blooms.  My garden plans have been at a standstill for a couple of years, but the plants have not been.  My gardens have really started filling in.

I am liking it!  Soon I may be able to enjoy both passions.  Relaxing out in the garden and doing some handwork.  Wishful thinking at this point, as there is still a lot to do in the garden, but one can dream, can't they.....

Trying out some quilting designs for the French Braid Star quilt

I haven't even finished my French Braid Star quilt that I started, through the Halton Hills Quilter's Guild workshop that I took in April, and I am already trying to figure out what to do for the quilting.  I am making this quilt with only solids.  The blocks are looking very modern.

I am using my small scribbling board/quilting design board, that I made with a piece of wood and plastic to protect the blocks, as I design and draw the quilting to actual size.  Good thing I made my design board 14" square, because this block is 12 1/2" square unfinished.  

As this quilt, as a whole is modern looking, I have decided to stick with modern quilting designs, along the lines of Angela Walter's style.  On the braids, I tried some ribbon candy, straight lines, continuous lines, fillers and all sorts of other stuff too.

In the end, I think I narrowed it down to the three designs below.  I want to keep it simple and clean looking.  That is why I added the 1/4" echo line in each braid before adding the design lines.  It makes it look neater and more contained.

When the blocks are put together to form the star, there is another arrow shape like the three braids.  This one though is the medium grey background.  I wanted to carry forward the arrow shape and emphasize the arrows pointing to the centre star.  At first I thought to pretend the braids continued into the grey area, like the top picture, but I thought against it, as I felt it was getting monotonous.   

I went through some of Angela's quilting books and came up with the lines with echo that make up an arrow shape, as seen above.  Besides the fact that the point of that design would be bogged down with a mass of thread, the design didn't do much for me.  

So I kept playing around with my dry erase maker and my design board, until I came up with this next design.  Instead of starting at the point, I can start at the other end and this will allow me to divide the space up into five spaces that looks more in proportion to the space than the too skinny spikes.  I am thinking I like this one and for now I have settled on it for the grey spaces.

I will keep my options open though, should something else from now until I actually start quilting, comes to me.  When it comes to it, nothing is etched in stone, until I start quilting.  If I don't like the way it is going I can always take it out.

These are just some of the thought processes that I go through in my head as I make my quilts.  There are any number of ways that this quilt can be quilted and any one of them would be pretty.  I just have to settle on one of them.

I can't wait to see what everyone else is doing with theirs!!!

Sabryna's Fair and Square quilt

My daughter Sabryna is also a fan of Bonnie Hunter.  This is a pattern from one of her books, called Fair and Square.  

My daughter raided my stash to make this quilt.  There wasn't even one piece from her own stash.  She is saving her stash for something special.  She is not sure what yet, but something special.  

Sabryna started with a piece of green from my cupboard, pulled out some squares from my box of 1 1/2" squares and she used up some scraps of leftover white muslin.  Once those blocks where done she raided the scraps of solid black for the frame around the blocks.

The second alternating squares are string blocks cut in half.  This quilt is queen size so those string blocks were very labor intensive.  She made a bunch, and put them away for a while.  Months later she took them out and finished them.  The top got put away again for another while.  When it came to the border, she decided to do something different, so she raided my drawer of 2" strips and the white muslin scraps to make her piano keyboard border.

My daughter is not a die hard quilter, she just gets into it when the mood strikes her.  She prefers to sit in front of the tv watching reruns and doing handwork.  But when she sets her mind to it she can accomplish a lot.  One summer she made three queen size quilts, all of them with tedious small pieces.

For the quilting she wanted something a bit funky, so I used Prickly Pear Glide thread to quilt Field of Dreams by Patricia Ritter through Digi-Tech now known as Urban Elementz.  This design is very dense, which helps pass over all of the small pieces.  The seams on this quilt are definitely staying put.

  

When we bought the backing for this quilt the salvage said it was 108" wide and we bought 3 meters (120").  She thought to use the extra length for the binding.  Unfortunately, after the backing fabric was washed it only measured 96" W and 104" L.  I couldn't believe it.  I had to measure it several times before I actually believed it.  The quilt was 98" W X 108" L.  I was so upset for her, because she just didn't want a pieced backing on this quilt, like the rest of her quilts.

But there was nothing to be done about it.  So to speed things up I made the 14" pieced strip, seen above, with both sides having a black strip, to go through the top third of her backing.  In order to only make the one pieced strip, I turned the backing sideways, so that the 104" L would be used for the width instead.  Even with the extension, I had to baste some additional leaders to the backing in order to not waste any fabric and get them attached to the longarm leaders.

Do you see what is coming up.....I was left with only 2 1/2" of backing fabric at the bottom.  But talking about close.....do you see the, less than 1/4", of batting that remained at the bottom.  I really don't like getting to the bottom and praying, that while I quilt the quilt, that the backing will not shrink more than the top, especially as I was quilting densely on this one.  You can bet that I had my fingers cross all the while.  This one was just too close for comfort.

In the end, the quilt turned out nice and best of all, my daughter loves it!

On a side note, a thought I had to myself....I really like having my stash in a somewhat organized way.  My daughter was able to pull directly from my pre-cut scraps to make her quilt.  The strings are forever there, it seems that they constantly multiply.  Even after she finished the string blocks, it didn't look like she made much of a dent.

Having the scraps organized definitely helps me be more productive.  While I am finishing a quilt and putting the left overs away, I do as Bonnie Hunter does, and trim the small stuff into usable pieces that fit my system of usable sizes.  I even have three planned future quilts that I will cut for, as I tidy up.

Mom's Aunt Bea's parlor quilt

I did some quilting for my mom.  She made her version of Aunt Bea's Parlor.  The main difference on her version is the border and mom decided to use brighter coloured fabrics.  It looks cheerful!

My mom has been doing handwork for a long time.  Over the years she has amassed a collection of different coloured embroidery threads.  These blocks are all hand embroidered using her own colour choices.  Here is a close up picture of one of them.  Mom's stitches are very pretty.  She uses a fancier stitch than what is called for in the pattern and it really makes a difference as to how pretty it looks.

We chose to do an all over edge to edge design, as the fabrics mom used were too busy to really show off any custom quilting.  What we ended up with, was a pretty feminine feathery design that softens the look of the quilt a bit, but that does not steal the show away from the pretty baskets.

A side view of the quilt helps you to see the texture that the quilting gives to the quilt.  The pattern is called Feather Grande by Bethanie Nemesh from Digi-Tech, now known as Urban Elementz.

When I quilted this quilt, I used a 60 weight thread.  I didn't want the thread overtaking the basket designs.  This way when the quilting went over and through the baskets, the thread was thin enough to sink into the embroidery threads which are thicker, instead of laying on top of them and pushing the embroidery down.

The above close up shows how the quilting provided the texture, but does not hide the embroidered basket.  Anywhere the thread passes over the embroidery, you can't tell.  It almost looks like the quilt was quilted first and hand embroidered on top.

The quilt turned out quite lovely and the most important thing is that my mom loves it!  It is her quilt after all.

The 1st NICU hearts quilt

I receives 20 cream coloured blocks with a red heart, off centred fused to each of them.  I held on to these heart blocks for a while, as I didn't know what I wanted to do with them.  When I started making NICU quilts, these blocks came to mine.

I didn't want to make a full size quilt with them, I was racking my brain trying to figure out just what to do with them.  Eventually I came across a picture that I kept of a quilt that I wanted to make.  The alternating blocks below is like an Irish chain block, but with a larger square in the centre.

When I thought of this block, I took the heart squares out to play.  As it turns out, I have enough heart blocks to make two of these NICU quilts and a larger child size quilt.  They will all have alternating red chain blocks.  This one has little heart motifs in the red.  The next on has bears and the last one I am doing it in scrappy reds.

  

I had a bit of time to play on my longarm and decided to get this one done.  I did this one using a pantograph call Whole Lotta Love from Urban Elementz.  I used a fun periwinkle coloured glide thread to add some interest to all the cream area.  I like how cheerful it looks.  So pretty!

Once I get the label on it, I'll have another one for Project Linus.

Finished quilting the next two NICU quilts

Here are the second two NICU quilts quilted.  I am constantly practicing using any freehand designs that I can.  Once I get the motion of the design committed to memory, I will try and perfect it.  I don't aim for perfection, but I do try to improve my flow and smoothness of the design.  Perfection is for the computer program and as Angel Walters says, good is good enough.

As I mentioned in my previous post, these particular small quilts are great for grid designs, like practicing corner to corner curves.  First I try to remember the direction that I need to follow, to do the design all in one pass, I will try to get all the curves as even as I possibly can.  Doing this over and over will help commit it to memory and create my muscle memory.

This next one was very much the same.  This time I did the Terry Twist design in the centre followed by corner to corner curves.  On this quilt I also tried to do a chain of double circles along the last border.  This was the first time for this design and I can honestly tell you I will need a lot more practice with this one.

All and all I enjoyed quilting these quilts.  Grid quilting is a bit more structured than freehand background quilting, but with a caulk pounce and grid stencil, you can make any of these grid designs your background design.

Now to bind them and give them to Project Linus, for donation to the hospitals, for the incubators.

A couple more NICU quilts

A while back I purchased a large zip loc freezer bag full of mainly 2 1/2" dark and light blue squares.  I've already shared a couple of the NICU quilts I've made with some of the blocks and here are another two quilts.

This first one was already half way done.  The person I purchased the bag from had made the dark blue nine patch and surrounded them by a round of light blue squares.  I figured I would continue with the theme, so I added a round of dark squares that were already attached in a strip and followed that with a round of light squares and finally a small border to being it to the required size of 25" square.

  

There were still some stripes of light blue squares in sets of five.  I figured I would put them all together to make the centre square.  I bordered it with two rows of dark blue squares that were also already put together.  Lastly, the last small border to bring it to size.

These were the fastest NICU quilts I've ever made.  Not only was it because they are small to begin with, but also because many of the blocks were already assembled in different configurations.  I only needed to figure out what the best way to utilize all the pieces.  It was like assembling a puzzle.  I enjoyed it!

These NICU quilts are in great demand, so I plan to continue to make them.  I enjoy helping the cause, but this size is also great for practicing all the various quilting designs and they don't take up a lot of fabric for the backing or batting.  These ones in particular are great for practicing the various grid designs.

Farmer's Wife background strip corners are all done

I've got all the background corner triangle pieces made up.  It has really come together.  I have really been dragging my feet with this one.  Finding all the excuses in the book not to work on it.  By this point it was the last week of April and I needed it done.....in April.

I've also got all the sashing cut out and I'm ready to put the whole thing together.  It may not be April anymore, but I am not giving up on this one.  It's starting to grow on me.  I am determined to get this done.  I even figured out what I am going to do for the quilting.  So I need to finish it! 

All blocks done for French Braid star

I got all my blocks done for the French Braid Star quilt.  Once I got into the rhythm of constructing the block, it went well.  I was finished in no time at all.  I've decided what I am going to do for the borders, but will have to order some more grey background fabric to do it.

I like the way it is turning out.  This quilt is going to be a giveaway to one of my nieces, at some point or another.  I just haven't nailed down which one would like a more modern looking quilt.

Earlier today I went to Michael's to pick up my framed cross-stitch.  It turned out beautiful.  I like how the simple frame brings out some of the colour in the cross-stitch.

This week my am is to finish making the top from the April's UFO challenge.  I have only the peek-a-boo border and the last border to put on, to call it complete.  I already have the backing and the quilting design picked out, so once I get some time, I can also quilt it up.  I am looking forward to it.

I sit here today evaluating my list of quilts to do.  I have quite a few left to do. I am now back up to thirty-five.  I was doing well for a bit, but so far this year I have already added another eight quilts to the list.  On paper it does not look too good, as I only have five completed.  However, I have made a lot of progress on a few of the quilts.

I can thank the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge for my progress.  Though I did get distracted with a bunch of starts, I did make good progress on quilts from the list, that otherwise would not even have been looked at.

Let's see what I can do to make some of these quilts move to the completed status.