Comfort twice over

 Hi all! Is this the weirdest winter ever or what? I don't know about you, but the weather here has been really wild. So far, we've had only a trace of snow, lots of rain, and some extremely strange temperatures. Today it was 67 degrees! Which is great, but very odd in February. Do you think this means we'll have a snow storm in April? Gotta happen, right?

Today I'm showing off a finished quilt! Saints be praised, as my grandmother used to say. Here it is:

Totally not my usual thing, but I love it! This was a quilt I made in the depths of grief after my mother died. It's the Solstice Sampler, a sewalong organized by Alderwood Studio (patterns no longer available, sadly.) It brought me back and was comforting when I really needed it. I'm forever grateful.

It happens that I posted a picture on Instagram, and a friend fell in love. Could she buy it from me to give to her sister? Of course not!  I told her she could have it when it was quilted. But could it be quilted quickly? Sure! Not by me, but sure!

I fully intended to rent time and quilt this myself, but there was just no time. I have a whole stack of tops that I'm ready to quilt, and I keep trying to find the time, but there is a lot on my plate right now. So I sent this off to Alycia, who did an amazing job with the direction I wanted to go, and even did it in record time. The main pattern is very swirly, with "rays" around the center star. It turned out so great!

The backing for this quilt is a very pale blue batik, and I bound it in the very last of the bright blue that is in the quilt blocks. I had to piece scraps together and even finagle a couple of things to get enough binding, but I made it with about an inch to spare. 

The designer of the center star actually had a much more complex design, and I ended up making the block twice. Since I was sending this one off to my friend, I finished that block with the applique and quilted it up into a table mat and sent that along, too.

As an added bonus, I had changed my mind about the colors in one of the blocks, but of course I saved the corner pieces that I ripped out. Doesn't everyone? I quilted those up, too, and they became mug-size coasters. Of course those went in the box, too. 

So hurray! This quilt gave me a lot of comfort when I needed it, and now my friend's sister has a warm and cozy comfort quilt to wrap up in when needed. Comfort times two, and awfully pretty to boot.

Hope everyone has a warm and cozy weekend. I think we're getting rain, which we all know will be wonderful for some flowers. I wonder if any are sprouting yet? I better go check, don't you think?

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished or not Friday, and the Quilting, Patchwork, Applique linkup, too.

Feeling kinda modern

 Hi everyone! How are you doing these days? Things have not been too snappy here at chez AQ, topped off with a root canal and then final exams. Talk about piling on! But we're not going to dwell on the negative and instead we're just going to look at a nice quilt top I finished off this week.It's a little modern and a little different for me, but it turned out quite well and I'm pretty happy with it.

Here is my finished Solstice Sampler quilt top:

Yahoo! I can't believe I kept up with this sewalong and actually finished the top in a reasonable time. This is the Solstice Sampler organized by Alderwood Studio, and you can get the instructions and patterns right HERE, but only until December 31. After that some of the designers will be selling their patterns, so grab them while you can. 

I started this project to distract me from some of my troubles, but I'm really surprised at how much I like the finished product. Some of the blocks are very modern, but most of them are different takes on traditional. This top is just about 60 by 60 and will get a binding from that same blue if I can eke it out of the scraps. Also, I really need to use more batiks. Note to self: go fabric shopping.

 

Of course, I had to modify some of the blocks to make them fit my own feelings, too. For example, the original design of the block in the bottom left corner had more floating elements that just reminded me of the floating candles in the Harry Potter movies, so those had to go and everything else got shifted around. I like how it turned out, though, and it's close to the original.

The problem child of this quilt was the center star block above, which I remade because the original (in THIS post) just looked like a hole in the quilt. It was paper pieced and came together well enough, but it took forever (at least four hours) to make each copy of the block. So many pieces! Maddening. But at least it looks good in the quilt now! I saved the first one and am going to turn it into a small pillow or something, too.

So there we are, another quilt top finished! I have amassed a big stack now, so it's time to rent some longarm time and get a bunch of things finished up. Sounds like a good way to spend the rest of the year, doesn't it? 

Hope you all are doing well and getting ready for the big holiday that I would like to skip this year. I won't, but it's very tempting. For right now, though, I have to find a small rake or something to clean the carpet in the sewing room. There is thread and little bits of paper-piecing paper everywhere!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished or Not Friday, and the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting, Patchwork, Applique.

Holiday project

 Hi all, and happy Thanksgiving to everyone here in the US! Okay, I know it's tomorrow, but isn't today the day we all start cooking? And if you didn't remember to take the turkey out of the freezer yet, well, I'm sorry about that. We always get the turkey on Monday so it never goes in the freezer and is nice and defrosted by Thursday morning. This year there were only big ones left, so it looks like we will be having a lot of turkey!

Since I have a little time this week with all of my students having run home or someplace other than campus, I finally started a project that has been on my mind for a while. It's slow going, but a nice diversion. Here is my first block:

 

Yes, I finally worked up the courage to cut up the saved baby clothes and start a memory quilt. It was not as hard as I thought and it brought back some fun memories. Anyone else make appliques like that for sweatshirts way back when? 

I decided that I needed some structure for this quilt, so I'm using the Scattered pattern from Connie at Freemotion by the River, which you can get right HERE. It has nice sized pieces, though I have been fussy cutting some of the front pieces instead of following the directions. And yes, the pieces all have interfacing, just like T-shirt quilts. It's kind of a pain, but the results are good.

As you can see from the pile above, I have a ways to go, but I'm hoping to have this done by the end of the year. It's nice to take it a little slow, plus I really need to wash some of those dresses. And sometimes I miss the little kids I used to have, so I need to stop for a bit.

The other thing I've been working on is the Solstice Sampler from Alderwood Studio. Amazingly, I have kept up. The block on the left above took forever, and I cannot read directions, so I might remake it. There are supposed to be rays of a different color surrounding the star, but somehow I missed that. Do you think I could just piece those in without having to remake the whole darned thing?

I took a couple of pictures of those blocks outside, but it was very windy. I put one of the not-too-bad one on IG, but if you look closely at the background of the picture above, you might find a couple of our deer friends, wondering just what is going on, and if the blocks might be tasty.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving, and be safe if you are going over the river or through the woods. I'm off to make pie!

Sharing at Midweek Makers.

More block progress

 Hi everyone, and welcome to the dark part of fall, transitioning into winter, otherwise known as the season that shall not be named. We turned our clocks back for Daylight Saving Time this past weekend, and it has thrown me all off. I kind of enjoy the light in the morning, but coming home in the dark is a real bummer. Makes me feel like I worked a whole lot longer than I did.

Thankfully, it has been warm and sunny for the most part so far this week, and it made for some pretty pictures of the blocks I've been working on. Here are my blocks for the Solstice Sampler:

I think those are very pretty! Who knew it would turn out so well with those woodsy fabrics? I'm not so sure about the picture of the center fabrics in the block on the right, but it looks really good in person.

This is the block with half-rectangle triangles, and I messed up a bit on the trimming so I lost some points on those big triangles. Nobody criticize, because I'm happy with it. To be fair, the directions were different from anything else I've ever seen, but I think I've done all right. I love the blue, too. I think it belongs in every block.

The other block is a plaid block, and it was super-easy. I might change those skinny center pieces, but it depends on how motivated I feel. Hint: my motivation is currently quite low.

And there are all four of my Solstice blocks. I just got the pattern for the fifth one, and it has paper piecing, but it looks easy enough if I can make a decision about the colors. None of these blocks was as difficult as they look, and if they look fun to you, you can still jump in and get all the patterns right HERE.

I also was digging through the closet (I have to stop doing that) to get ready for my over-Thanksgiving project and I found this bunch of blocks. I have 16 more blocks cut, but not stitched, and I'm torn about making the remaining blocks or just putting these finished blocks into a table topper-size quilt and creating a border of some type with the cut pieces. Maybe I'll make a few more blocks and decide. These are 12-inch blocks, so I could probably put together a few more blocks and make a decent-sized baby quilt if I wanted to. But see above: motivation is low.

So there we are-- making some progress and finding all sorts of weird stuff. Some day there will be nothing in the closet but things I'm currently working on, but today is not that day. And tomorrow won't be, either!

Above is what I think will be the last rose of the season, even though I see a couple more small buds. The weather is supposed to change, and I'm pretty sure this plant will be dormant by next week. But this last rose certainly is cheery, isn't it? Have a good week, everyone!

Sharing at Midweek Makers.

Coming back slowly

 Hi all. I hope you're all doing well! First, thanks so much for all your comments, notes, and emails about my mom's death. It's been a hard couple of weeks, and I didn't have the energy to respond to everyone individually, but I do appreciate you all.

As anyone who has experienced this knows, time takes on a different meaning in the immediate aftermath, but I'm starting to re-engage with the world again. One major step is getting back into the sewing room and starting back on my projects. I worked on a few things, including being a good grandma and making a fleece monkey costume for a certain tiny person, but what's really gotten me back are these blocks:

 

 

Wow, they do look good.  I thought I was fooling myself when I made them. Those petals in the block on the left are pieced, not appliqued, just so you know. These are blocks from the Solstice Sampler at Alderwood Studio. They're a little modern, so I wasn't sure about them, but they turned out to be soothing to make. 

The original sampler is shown in fall colors, but I chose to use these woodsy-ish batiks that were just sitting on the shelf. I don't use batiks very much, but I don't know why. They are great fabrics, very stable, and seldom run. And look at those colors! The only thing I don't really like is that some of them can get muddy when it comes to pattern, but I can deal with that. I may have to expand that section of the fabric shelves. (After I use a bunch more fabric, because I'm committed to keeping it small.)

 

 

These blocks are fairly complex so far, which I like, and they're soothing for me because they give me something else to think about. I actually have to concentrate on these, which is giving my brain a rest from everything else. I do feel guilty about neglecting other projects, though. But if you don't feel guilty about that, are you really a quilter?

 

 

These blocks are a whopping 18 inches, but see all those stripes? They finish at a half inch wide. And those dots are water spots from the grass, not flaws in the fabrics. I'm really enjoying the complex piecing, and I am learning new things, like don't try to piece a WOF section of 1 inch strips, because they will curve all over the place. Next up are some half-rectangle triangles, which should be a challenge. But really, check out these seams:

 

 

So there we are, back to the sewing room and making something nice. You can still join in if you're interested! Just jump over HERE and  get started. This week I'm going to try to work some more on my RSC projects, too. The medallion top is so, so close, and it might be a nice feeling to get it done.

Hope you're all doing well, and thanks again for all your support! It really did make a difference to me. 

Sharing at Midweek Makers.