Lit up from within

 Hello everyone! How's it going? I am very slowly getting better and I'm sure that the end of the semester will help a lot. Also helps that the trees have finally fully leafed out and there is shade and green everywhere. Also a ton of rain, but that's another story.

I have a finish to show today! What? Yeah, I sent this one out to Alycia and she did a great job with it, then I've spent the last three weeks putting the binding on. Baby steps. But it turned out so great! Take a look:

It glows, does it not? One of my neighbors stopped when I had it hanging up to take pictures and told me how much he liked it. That never happens! Note to self: finally get around to building that arbor in the back yard. . .

If you recall (and who can blame you if you don't?) I made this last year and it's just 3 inch finished squares arranged in various gradients. I actually started with a split 9-patch design, then added some more squares to one side and started twisting and turning things. I thought it would be a mess, but it absolutely isn't.

After all that fun on the front, I chose a pretty plain print from Connecting Threads (I think) for the back. It's not quite as humdrum as it looks, and when the quilt is tossed on a chair it actually looks quite nice. The binding is a blue and black floral that's been hanging around here far too long. It works for this quilt. I did a hand binding so that I could stitch a few inches at a time when I felt like it. I forgot how great a hand binding looks. I might have to find myself some more hand sewing. You know, to fill all that extra time I have.

 

Alycia quilted this with a check and chase style panto and I love how it turned out. So much texture! I was worried about the white thread on the dark blue, but it really doesn't look bad. I'm usually okay with a little light thread on dark, but I really dislike dark thread on light fabrics. Is that a weird thing? How about you?

So there we are, another fun finished quilt! I'm fairly impressed with myself because I've been absolutely exhausted and I still managed to bind this thing. I am feeling better a little at a time but it's still hard to get through a whole day. Mostly I've come home and collapsed every day. But at least I know now that I will get through it, however long it takes.

Ah, well! Have a lovely weekend, enjoy the spring flowers, and a Happy Mother's Day to all US moms, grandmas, and mom-like people. I hope you get unburned pancakes with your breakfast in bed!

Sharing at Finished or Not Friday and Quilting, Patchwork, Applique, too.

Another round for the house

 Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday! Halfway through the week, so everything after this is heading for the weekend. It is very loud here at my house right now. They are finally fixing the floor after our roof leak and there is a lot of pounding. There are four guys here and they all have hammers or nail guns. I know it will be worth it, but I really need somewhere to hide.

I have put another round on my stay at home round robin! This is a project by Quilting Gail and friends, and I think this is its third year. It's my third year, anyway. Here is the current status of my project:

Okay, it's looking better than I thought it would! I usually have no confidence in how things will turn out when I start them, other than 'that might be pretty.' This week's prompt was 'square in a square blocks,' and you can see mine right there in the corners. I started with the ships in the center and I'm pretty happy so far with how the rounds are turning out. And I'm really happy that those ships are getting used in something! I had so many ideas for them, but none actually came to pass, so I'm happy they are being used here.

Last week's prompt was triangles, but I really thought I had enough triangles in this little quilt already. Instead I added the golden yellow spacers to the top and bottom and decided to use the star fabric for whatever the next round was. The stars were left over from another backing, so so far everything here is a leftover or scrap. The blue square in a square blocks made great cornerstones and they also go nicely with that pretty yellow. 

At this point, my little quilt measures 42 inches square. Wait, what? How did that happen? I don't know, but here we are. There are two more rounds to go, so I think I will end up with a very nice toddler quilt, perfect for donation. 

Whatever the next prompt is, I'm ready! Hope your week is going well, and I hope the hammering is done soon. Then I will have a floor again!

Sharing at Songbird Designs for the SAHRR.

Two rounds

 Hello all! How have you been? I'm doing okay. Classes are well underway and I'm already giving quizzes. Yeah, I'm that kind of professor. And hey-- apparently I'm in Blogger jail! I can't comment on any Blogger blogs. I just tried and it first refuses to 'sign me in' (even though I'm already signed in) and then when I try the other ways it tells me either that my comment failed or that I'm insecure. Okay, maybe the comment is insecure. It's unclear. So I'm sorry that I haven't commented on your lovely creations! Anyone know how to get out of this, or is it just a 'wait it out' kind of thing?

Anyway, all I've had time to work on for the last few days is the Stay at Home Round Robin from Quilting Gail and friends. Here's where I am after two rounds:

The first round, from Wendy, was the signature blocks, I made three sides in red and the bottom in blue. Do those blue ones not look like choppy seas? I added the green borders just to bring everything up to a 'normal' size. It was 36-1/2 by 26-1/2 after that first round.

 

 

Wondering about that odd red thing in the center of the upper red row? I couldn't make the math work for the red signature blocks to fit properly, so I made a piece a little bigger than the other blocks to fit in the middle and space everything out so it looked decent. I didn't really figure on the nice way it fits with the signature blocks, but it works!

The prompt for the second round was 'two colors' and I thought this was a great opportunity to use some leftover quarter square triangle blocks. The blues aren't as light as they look in the picture, and we can just pretend they're fog rolling in to the harbor or something. These blocks are 4 inches finished and I am so thrilled to use them up. 

So that's where this project stands! I'm hoping to stitch some things this weekend, and maybe send off another quilt top for quilting. Or maybe I'll just put my feet up and read a book until I figure out how to get to make comments again. Have a great weekend everyone!

Sharing at the SAHRR linkup and Finished or Not Friday.

Snowflakes

 Hi everyone! How are you doing? Friends, the last two weeks have been horrendous. Hellish, even. The less said about them, the better! I have had exactly zero time to sew anything or even think about sewing anything, but I finally escaped to the sewing room and finished something up while the roofers were banging away upstairs. Have you had a roof replaced? Good golly, the noise and the mess! And let's not even talk about the cost. . .

 

The less said the better, right? While I was taking refuge from the roofing and seriously wondering if I could nap on the cutting table, I was looking through the closet and saw today's project hanging with the other tops. Before we get to the story, here is the finished project:

 

 

Okay, it's cuter than I thought it would be. Cross hatching does work wonders, doesn't it? This is a 2-inch cross hatch, which is the perfect size for a small piece. The quilt is straight, I swear, but the edges look a little wavy in the picture because I used a wool batting, which never lies as flat as cotton. It's nice and puffy for a good texture, though.

I really don't know how old this project is. I got the blocks from somewhere at least 10 years ago, probably more. I put them together into a top a couple of years ago, and there it has hung in the closet ever since. I had so many ideas for quilting it up. It has high contrast, which for me meant quilting the darker colors separately from the white. So many ideas, none of which came to fruition. So the question when I saw it hanging there was "do I let this hang here for another winter, or do I just suck it up and finish it any way that works?" The answer was pretty obvious.

 

I grabbed a leftover piece of backing that's a map of Paris, which is awesome, a piece of leftover wool batting, and a pale blue thread and went for the cross hatch. It's easy and meditative, and since this piece was so small, about 36 inches square, it went quick. I bound it in a piece of blue that doesn't match the other blues, but after a decade, does it really matter?

As I feared, the lighter thread, which really does mostly blend all over, stands out like neon on the solid dark blue and shows every wobble. I could rip out those stitches and redo them, but I think we all know I'm not that kind of quilter, right? This is one of the reasons I used wool batting. After I wash it, I'm sure it will shrink up enough that the mistakes will just fade into the quilty crinkliness. (Is that a word?)

Hey look--it's the Eiffel Tower!

 

I'm going to use this as a winter table topper since it's more 'winter' than 'Christmas.' Honestly, though, it's just a relief to see it as a finished piece and not hanging in the closet, mocking me. It's not perfect, but I know the hubs or a four year old is going to spill gravy or ketchup on it, so it's perfectly okay with me. 

Everyone have a wonderful week! Mine is definitely looking up, as we are finishing finals and I'll be done by Friday. Okay, I'll get the grades in on Monday. Tuesday at the latest. Really. My incentive is Christmas cookies. I think that'll work, don't you?

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

Blue and yellow sunburst

 Hi everyone! So here we are in November, all of a sudden. Wasn't it just September? I can't keep track, except that it's definitely cooled off and we even had a freeze the other night. And it really is dark when I get home, so we must be slouching towards winter. As long as the snow holds off for a bit more, I think we'll be okay.

So, it isn't Friday, but I do have a finish. I know, it's like I'm breaking a rule! But I finally got pictures taken yesterday so why wait? Have a look:

Okay, that is a very bright quilt top! Maybe we shouldn't look at it head on. I don't know if you can see it on your monitor (or phone) but there are some of the diagonals in the corners are a pale yellow. It's really kind of pretty.

I started this as a wedding quilt for a friend, but we all know I wasn't going to make it in time for the wedding, right? And then we had family drama and trauma, so I ended up giving the happy couple a different quilt, which they totally loved. That left me with a half-finished quilt top, which I have now finished off.

Somebody is going to have to rake up all those leaves! This quilt top is about 60 by 72, a really nice size for a couch quilt. I did strip piece much of it, though it was complicated by the half square triangles. I managed, and I do think the triangles add a lot to it. I actually started with split 9 patches as a beginning design point before I ended up twisting and turning things around.

I'm pretty proud of the yellow gradations in this quilt. Have you ever tried a yellow gradation? It is not easy, but I managed it. It was actually fun to play around with, and now I have some more yellows on the shelves. And more yellow scraps, which is always nice! I'm happy to say, too, that those dark blues are all used up. Thank goodness!

This lovely is headed for the closet to age properly while I search for a backing and figure out how to get it quilted up. In the meantime, you can see what my outdoor job to burn off stress is going to be!

I'll end this up with a picture of the hill behind our house, which was in all kinds of fall glory. The sun shining through was just wonderful. Hope you all have a great weekend! I'm having lunch with some friends, then maybe tackling those leaves. And sleeping in for an extra hour Sunday-- fabulous! Just what I need!

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

Hot and smoky

 Hi everyone, from my safe perch inside and away from the smoky air outside. Yes, it has rolled in again, though not as bad as last time around. While I like barbeque that is hot and smoky, I can't say I care for it in the air. Canadian friends who are feeling the brunt of the wildfires, I really feel your pain! I hope those fires are under control soon.

 

So here we are at the first of July, and I already have some red blocks to show off. Warning, I took all of these pictures just as it started to rain, so the colors are a bit off. The haze and smoke did not help, either, though these pretty blocks shine right through:

 

 

Yes, the red Peace and Plenty blocks. And look at those great red fabrics! I have no idea where those prints came from. I'm guessing they were something I got in a fat quarter sale somewhere, but they look great in these blocks. I don't have much red, but these are making me happy!

I also finished off June by making these fun lime green blocks:

And then, just because the blue basket was right there, I also made three light blue blocks:

 

You can see that I ran out of time and it had definitely started to rain by the time I got the blue blocks out. Those are raindrops on the blocks, not dirt! Plus, light blue is always hard to photograph, but I think you can see them okay against the grass.

Because it's the start of July and we're now more than halfway through the year, I also pulled out all the Peace and Plenty blocks and laid them out:

Somehow I have ended up with 24 blocks, but this is going to be a spectacular quilt. I only count yellow and aqua after this in terms of colors, but I must be missing one. Any thoughts?

And there we are! A good finish to June and a nice start to July. You can get the pattern and cutting directions for these blocks right HERE, if you're inclined to make a few. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend with breathable air, and a very nice holiday on the 4th. And happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north, too!

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC23

Starry, starry haze

 Hi everyone, and happy smoky Friday! If you are on the East coast, you probably know what I mean. It has been very hazy here from the drifting smoke from wildfires in Quebec, Canada. Today might be a little better, but the last few days have been surreal. Very hazy, the sun looked orange, and the air has been like breathing mud. Oh, and I was out watering the plants and it seems like everything is coated in a sticky film, like a soda exploded and sprayed everything. Just all kinds of fun.

This week I was getting ready to go to a conference, so that was work, but I also made time to crank out a few stars for the rainbow scrap challenge. The color for this month is pastel blues and greens. I don't have a lot of pastels, but I do have a few lighter and brighter greens, so I mananged to make three green stars:

How do you not fall in love with that star on the left? These are 9-inch blocks, so some of those pieces are quite small. It was very fun to make. The others will be fine in the quilt, but they aren't nearly as festive, or as fun to make.

Since this month is about light blues and light greens, I also made one light blue star:

Okay, it's more medium than light blue. Truth be told, there are not that many light blues hanging around here. I think I may be able to find a couple more, and I might make a couple more blue stars, though there's already a lot of blue for this quilt. 

One thing I do have in a very pale (and hard to photograph) blue are these little hourglasses:

I have 32 of these, all untrimmed, and I don't know what to do with them. I thought I might make something small with an alternate block, but I don't know what that block should be or what color it should be. I could also combine these into some blocks, but again, don't know what block that would be. Any good suggestions out there?

And speaking of good suggestions. . .

I showed this block as a failed block last month. Here was the original block:

A couple of readers suggested turning the hourglasses to make an orange star instead of the hard-to-see white star, and it worked! Thanks guys! It doesn't look as first intended, but it will work well as a fixed block. And really, all I did was turn the hourglasses the other direction. What a difference!

And with that, we're off to my conference! I hope to find some more breathable air there, because one of the side effects of this haze has been that I've almost lost my voice from hoarseness. I sound awful, so some better air is a must. Wish me luck with my presentation, and everyone have a great weekend!

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC23.

Crossing off two more

 Hi everyone! We got everyone safely graduated this week, I cleaned up my office and shut down the work computer, then I pulled the blinds and locked the door. See that place again in August! It feels great. This was a long year, but every time I think it was a hard one I remember 2020-2021 when we were trying to teach all those students over Zoom. No teaching challenge will ever be as hard as that!

Back at home, I tried to finish up another of the bigger quilts this week, but I didn't get all the way through. Oh, well! I did, however, finish off two smaller pieces that have been kicking around here for a while:

Those don't look very familiar, do they? Well, once again, they are repurposed pieces. In 2017 and again in 2019 I started to make temperature quilts. I did not get all that far, maybe to part of April. Turns out I fail at even stitching a 3-inch seam every day. I also fail at throwing things out, or ripping them apart, which is what I should have done long ago. Instead, they have become a doll quilt and a table runner. Now that they're quilted, they may actually be useful!

Hey look, flowers! The bigger piece is the one from 2019, and is becoming a table runner since it's about 21 by 54. I think the tiny blocks in there are for family birthdays, based on where I think they fell in the calendar. I didn't get pictures of the backs of the pieces, but they are the same blue that was left over from  another backing. More repurposing!

Oh, wow, roses too! The smaller piece is the one from 2017, and it looks like it was a colder year! It looks like I cut this one into two pieces and joined them to make a rectangle. This one is 24 by 27 and will make a lovely doll quilt, or maybe the top of a nightstand. We'll let the small person decide.

The smaller piece was quilted using the ever- trustworthy cross hatch in a pale yellow thread. I bound it in a blue binding from the basket o' leftover bindings and various other things, and it turned out great. It went really fast, too.

I got a little tired of cross hatching, so the bigger piece is quilted in random lines across the width of the piece in a pale green thread. Sometimes they cross, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they're straight, sometimes they wobble. It will look good on a table no matter what. I bound it in another leftover piece of green. So, that's two more pieces out of the closet and another piece half-finished. Not bad for the week! 

This is Memorial Day weekend here in the US, the unofficial start of summer, and I am so ready for it. Bring on the picnics! Hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. And just to wind this up, I'll leave you with a picture of the wild strawberries in our backyard. This is why we don't spray the yard for weeds or anything-- these feed the deer and the foxes!

 

 

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

A small riot of color

 Hello everyone! Guess what? It isn't raining, for the first time in days, literally. Holy cow, it has been gray here. But I'm looking out the window right now and it looks like the sun is out and nothing is falling from the sky. And wonder of wonders, the grass got cut yesterday. I'd say it was knee-high, which would be an exaggeration, but it certainly felt that way.

This is our last week of class, so I haven't had a lot of time, but I did put together a small quilt top from some leftover blocks, and all the rain we've had gave me a couple of really good pictures:

Okay, I don't know whether to look at the flowers or the quilt top! I so wanted to take a picture of last week's purple quilt with these azaleas, but it just didn't happen because of the rain. But just look at them now!

I had these churn dash blocks made, but I never really figured out what to do with them. Do you ever just make something because they're fun to make, but you don't have a plan? That's what happened with these blocks.They're so colorful, and I have been in a "use it up" mode, so I stuck them together into a little top. It's actually about 40 by 45, so it's a decent size and will make a nice donation quilt.

I had no idea I had this very cute border fabric until I started looking through things for a border. When did I get this? Who knows, but it worked out really well with all the bright colors in this quilt top.

I so, so wanted to quilt this up, too, and I have a backing all ready for it, but alas! I had things to grade. With all of the tops that I have piled up, it looks like it's time to have a quilting marathon, too. Just as soon as I finish reading these research papers. . .

I'll leave you with another picture of those beautiful purple azaleas. They're as big as my hand! If you look carefully near the top, you'll find one very happy honeybee, too.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

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

Blue times two

 Hello everyone, and happy St. Patrick's Day! Is there green beer in your near future? I can't stand the stuff, but it's my brother's birthday, and he's always loved it. When he was a kid, he thought everyone celebrated his birthday with a fun party. I guess that's a reasonable conclusion. This year, though, I'm feeling a little under the weather so I'll just wave to all you revelers from over here on the sofa.

I have nothing green to show today, but I did finish a couple of fun blue things. I have this pile of quilt tops, see, and it really needs to get smaller. It was easy to quilt some straight lines on smaller things, so that's what I did this week. Check it out:

Well, those look fresh and fun, don't they? This all started with the four blocks in the center of the smaller quilt. I had started another quilt with those blocks, but I got bored and put all the cut pieces away. I pulled it out and repurposed many of the cut pieces into these two quilts.

Let's start with the bigger quilt, shall we? It's not very big at about 44 by 56, but it used up a bunch of those blue print and white squares. It may not be very large, but it is quite cuddly!

For the quilting, I just stitched straight lines on each side of the piecing lines in both directions in a pale blue thread with a walking foot. I have really grown to love that thing. It's simple quilting, but I think it really works.

The front of this quilt may be calming, but there's a party on the back! Check out those happy bees. The fabric is actually a bit brighter than it appears in the picture, and it makes a really fun contrast with the blues on the front. 

The smaller quilt is just about 36 by 36, so a table topper size. It got quilted in a cross hatch, and if you look closely you'll see that I made a measuring error with the lines. Not wanting to rip out quilting, I went ahead and repeated the mistake so that it looks intentional. I marked the lines with a Hera marker, which was pretty unsatisfying. I don't know why, but it was hard to see the lines and made me a bit frustrated. Probably operator error there, don't you think?

This little quilt also has a happy backing! It's a bright green with blue swirls and it works really well with the front.

So hurray! Two more finished pieces out of that pile, done with some pretty simple quilting that was easy to do and fairly relaxing. It feels like a victory to get every piece moved out of there and into the finished pile, that's for sure!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Good thing St. Patrick's is a Friday this year, isn't it? I'm going to try to figure out what to do with the last remaining pieces from the original quilt, dozens of blue prints hsts. Any suggestions?

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