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.

Stormy pink January

 Hello all, and happy weekend! Are you having a storm this weekend? We had one last week and it looks like there is another one coming. I'm happy to report that the roof did not leak again. Hurray! The industrial dryers are gone and it is much, much quieter in the house now. The storm left a ton of debris on the lawn, though, and you'll see some of it in a couple pictures in this post. I really need to get those old trees cut down. . .

This week, I sewed! It was great, especially because I put the binding on a bright, happy pink quilt. Check it out:

Does that not shine in the dreary, weak January sun? I am so thrilled that it's finished and that I actually got a picture of it--it's been a bit windy here. We had a huge storm with all kinds of rain and wind and it really did a number on some of our trees. Debris everywhere!

With some of the many limbs that came down!

 

This quilt was made from leftover parts from another quilt-- really!-- and you can read the whole story HERE. If not for the rainbow scrap challenge last year, I'm not sure that those parts would ever have gotten used. They kicked around here for quite a while.

 

 

 The front of this quilt turned out great, but I love, love, love the back! A while ago I mentioned that this could be my favorite fabric ever, and a kind soul gifted me a big piece of yardage. I love it so much. It worked great on the back of this quilt, and I have a nice big piece left over to use in another quilt, too. I am already dreaming of what I can do with it.

This little quilt was quilted for me by Alycia, who hosts Finished or Not Friday, too. The texture is perfect on the quilt, just enough of the swoopy and swirly stuff to complement but not overwhelm. She did a fantastic job! Once this was washed , it turned out even better, all nice and crinkly. 

I am so happy to have this done and to see those weird leftovers turn into something soft and cozy. Maybe this is why I have such a hard time letting go of all the bits and pieces and weird chunks and mistakes. Look what they can turn into! Spoiler alert: I sent Alycia another quilt made from still more leftovers from that same quilt, and it turned out equally awesome.

 

 

 

Everyone have a wonderful and safe weekend! I have to try to get more of those sticks and limbs and stuff cleared off the lawn before the next storm, then I'm planning on cozying up with a nice book in my newly quiet and dry house. Highly recommend that you all do the same!

 

 Sharing at Finished or not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties,TGIFF,  and the Patchwork and Quilts linkup at Quilting, Patchwork, Applique. And soscrappy for RSC24, too!

Positively grateful

 Hi everyone! Well, here we are, post-Thanksgiving and heading fast for December. Does this surprise anyone else? We had a lovely, relaxed holiday with tons of good food, even though my granddaughter demanded ketchup for her turkey, and video chats with everyone after dinner. The day after Thanksgiving I ate some pie and then got a screaming migraine that lasted two days. So, you know, bad with the good.

I planned to finish up photographing today's quilts on Friday but was busy moaning in a dark room, so today is the day! These are the two quilts I made for the Positivity quilt along from our friends Preeti and Bernie. I am really happy with how they turned out, even though the quilt along ended on Labor Day and I'm really behind. Oh well! Take a look at these lovelies:

They are very different, but kind of the same, and I'm so pleased with both of them. Let's talk about them one at a time, shall we?

I was going for neutral on both of these quilts and I'm not sure I achieved it, but the hubs was quite appreciative of the green quilt. I had to put those plants in pots, you know? It added a little zing to a quilt that was essentially two colors. If you look closely, you'll see that I used the same fabric as the pots for the binding.

 

 

I quilted the green quilt in a 2-inch cross hatch using a green-brown thread. I thought it might be too dark, but it was perfect. About a quarter of the way through it occurred to me that 2 inches was a little small for the cross hatch and I could have gone bigger (and therefore faster) but I was committed so I finished it that way. It might be a little close, but I think it turned out well.

The fall leaf/ neutral quilt was super simple, just straight(ish) lines across the quilt. It was fast and satisfying. In the picture it looks like there are a few wrinkles, but I promise there are no tucks. One thing with straight lines -- when you get close to the ends of the quilt, things start to wrinkle up, no matter how well you've basted. I ended up hand basting the ends to keep it all flat. It was tedious but it worked. I bound it in a nice fall-like golden brown.

For the green quilt I used a green leaf batik backing, which looks great. The neutral quilt was more difficult, but I managed to find enough of a cream print for the back. I think it contrasts nicely with the front but still blends well.

And then finally, here they are, all in their just-washed crinkly goodness:

These two are now packed up and ready for a postal pickup to go on their way to the palliative care unit at Mercy Hospital. I'm glad to have contributed a tiny bit to someone's comfort, and I'm extra pleased that I managed to get them both completed before the end of the year. Yay me!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. If you feel a headache coming on, I highly recommend lying down on a nice comfy piece of furniture with something nice to drink. It could get you through the week! See you in December!

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.

Fast, fun, and bright

 Hi all! How was your week? I've had yet another doozy of a time. It's pretty obvious that we have some serious family stuff going on, but I keep trying to stitch a few things when I can. And this week one of the administrative people at school became a grandma for the first time, so how could I not stitch her up something really cute? Want to see? Here it is:

Isn't that adorable for a first time grandma? This is a variation of the Quick Strippie from Mary Quilts, a super fast and cute pattern that is suitable for any occasion. I just couldn't cut the fun alphabet print into smaller pieces. I wanted to keep as much of the alphabet together as I could and not cut the pieces too small. It's not the pattern, but I think it works.

I did not think to look at the selvage, and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and dig it out of the trash, but I've had this fun print for a while. Come to think of it, I've had all of my fabric for a while, including the lime green and the last bits of the purple that are also in the quilt.

This quilt is about 40 by 48, the perfect "play on the floor" size.  I used the last of the Hobbs Poly Down batting that I had and quilted it with the serpentine stitch. The Poly Down is really quite nice, very light and not at all like the old poly batting. I think it works pretty well for this type of quilt, too. Easy to wash when someone spits up on it.

The backing is also a fabric that I had for quite a while, from the Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric. I'm so happy to use this up, and it works as a nice backing here. And check out that striped binding! You know how you have a fabric for a while and you just get tired of seeing it in your stash? That's how I felt about these, and now I can forget about them because they are used up and happy in a quilt!

That's about all I've been able to accomplish lately. Things are weird, and my regular machine still isn't back from the repair person. I miss it, even though the backup machine is doing great. Should be finished this next week. I think they had to get a repair part from the moon or something. I hope the shipping isn't too much.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Tomorrow is my birthday and Mother Nature is giving me a tropical rainstorm. Won't that be fun? I hope it comes with pie. Brownies would be nice, too.

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

Puzzle on the front, party on the back

 Hi all! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. Ours was good, but every time we tried to go outside for a while it rained. And so we went inside, and the sun came out. And of course that meant we went back out, and that meant a short but loud thunderstorm. It was a wild weather weekend, and very warm. But it's July, so you have to expect that, really.

Have you ever had a quilt that you wanted to name "This Took Forever?" That is the quilt I'm showing today, though it does include a fun surprise. Have a look:

Almost all green, finished, quilted, and bound! Hurray! I started calling this the puzzle quilt, which is way better than what I had called it before ("stupid green thing" just doesn't have a good ring to it) and I'm so happy it's all done, even if it took a whole year. Things have to marinate, you know? 

Is the surprise that I finished it almost exactly a year after it was pieced? Nope, it's this:

Definitely a party on the back! I couldn't resist these fun sunflowers. They're a nice contrast to all the dark greens, plus they give it a nice shot of color. And you can use it as a mood indicator, too-- sunflowers up means "let's chat," while green side up means "leave me alone." It's a multi-talented quilt!

If you recall, I made this quilt from a picture in a quilting magazine I saw in the library, using every bit of dark green I could come up with, plus a few blues and blacks thrown in for variation. It just about cleaned out that scrap bin, which is all I can ask for from a scrap quilt. 

 

 

What about "this took forever?" Well, I decided not to take it to the quilt shop and use a panto on the rented longarm and instead used a walking foot to follow all the zigzags in the quilt. It took forever, and was seriously boring, but it worked! The border is a set of straight lines, which also was boring but it got the job done.

I used a dark olive thread on the green parts, which blended with almost everything, and white on the text print parts, and then bound it in yet another dark green. The backing thread is a muslin color-- I think Aurifil actually calls it 'muslin'-- and it blended okay. I wish I'd used one shade darker, but what's done is done. I'm happy enough with it.

So there we are-- another finished quilt! I think I may send this to Quilty Hugs. Can't you see someone being cheered by this? And the 'mood' part could come in handy, too. Here's one last picture, with the tree that is about to come down. It's old and hollow, and it might fall any time, so time for it to go:

Hope everyone has a great weekend. We are seeing the grandchildren this weekend! Hurray! Gee, you have one little life-threatening incident and suddenly everyone wants to show up. . .but I'll definitely take it!

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

Another dose of Mercy

Hi all, and happy weekend! It has been a warm week here, and today it is supposed to be about 95 degrees. Yikes! It's only early June! We might get some rain, too, which is great because the grass is already turning brown. Thankfully, I have not yet shriveled in the heat, but I'm eating popsicles and drinking iced tea just in case. Wouldn't want to take chances!

 

You know what's a good place to be when it's very warm outside and you really can't be out there planting anything? In a basement sewing room, that's where. So you know where I hid out for much of this week. And look what happened while I was down there:

 

Yes, another finish! Happiness abounds, especially because this quilt gave me a few fits in the quilting process. It may not look like it, but this was a beast. And it took three bobbins to finish!

 

Some of you may remember this quilt from earlier this year, when I made the top during the Stay at Home Round Robin, a quilt along by Quilting Gail and friends. It was a fun project and I got a great top out of it. I knew all along it would be a donation quilt, and I'm quite pleased now that it's all finished and ready to send off.

 

Because there was so much going on in this quilt top, I decided to quilt it in straight lines so that the piecing could be the star. Truth be told, I also thought it would be the easiest for me to do because the quilt is about 62 by 72 and that's a bit big for me to wrestle with. Lines across the width of the quilt was probably the easiest way to go, but that was still a lot of quilt.

The problem, of course, is that this quilt did not have a grid of any kind that I could follow across the quilt, and that made everything extra hard for me, because my brain is very strange and just kept wanting to slide over and follow some seam lines. I ended up marking the first line across the quilt and then using the space bar attached to the walking foot. I still had to wrestle, and I still had to pay really close attention. I did rip out a couple of partial lines and start over. In the end, it did get finished, though. Hallelujah!

The backing for this quilt is a wideback piece with a pale beige leaf, and the binding is the same blue that is in the quilt. Every part of this quilt is a scrap or a leftover, except the binding, which comes from a saved half yard. I washed the quilt and it came out very soft and cuddly and overall worth the trouble to quilt it. 

Oooh, artsy!

This quilt is bound for Mercyful Quilts, which benefits a palliative care unit. Our friends Bernie and Preeti have just started the Positivity quilt along, which also benefits Mercy, and you can find all the details and links right HERE. It's a very cool and easy pattern, and you should definitely join in!

So, another quilt is in the books! Hope everyone has a great weekend and doesn't melt out there! I may wrestle yet another quilt through the machine. I've got it basted and everything threaded up, but there are some chores I have to get to as well. And those popsicles won't eat themselves, either!

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

Black and blue and quilted too

 Hello everyone! Well, the grading is over and I am experiencing this odd thing called "relaxation." So far I like it, but it's kind of weird. I still have a couple of meetings before this year is in the archives, but it's mostly done. I have a very full summer schedule, but I did plan for a couple of weeks of doing nothing, so I have a little time before I have to buckle down again.

I decided to start my vacation by tackling some of the many (too many) unquilted tops I have hanging. Some of them will require a long arm quilting reservation, but I've decided to tackle most of them with the walking foot. So, here is the first one:

It may not look like complex quilting, but this is a win in my book! Just about a year ago, I challenged myself to put together the black blocks I had without making any more of them. And I did it. And now I've finally quilted it!

Really, I'm surprised I persevered, because this was a bear to wrangle around. It's about 60 by 75, and that's pretty big for me to work on using just my machine. I quilted it in quadrants radiating out from the center where the four black blocks come together. Honestly, I did it this way because I thought that would be the easiest way to wrestle it through the machine, and it did work out pretty well. I used a pale blue Aurifil thread, which blends well with almost everything.

Instead of usng the straight stitch I used the serpentine stitch and I think it turned out really well. The only problem was the turning to make the radiating lines, but the only one who will worry about that is me. It just wasn't possible to make it flow perfectly, so there are a few wonky transitions. Oh, well. There are also a few places where the quilt dragged enough to make the serpentine lines a little straighter than they should be, but I'm going to give myself a pass on that. Quilts can be heavy!

The backing is a fabric from Fig Tree that I got on clearance a little while ago. I don't usually like the taupes and such, but they make great backings. With this particular one, you can barely see the stitches. There are two very tiny tucks in the backing, but I didn't even worry about them because they're so small. Once the quilt is washed, I don't think even I will be able to see them. The binding looks like a stripe but it's actually a very tiny text print.

Now that it's finally finished, this quilt is bound for Mercyful Quilts, which benefits a palliative care unit. I also have another quilt that I haven't quite finished quilting yet. I need some bigger backings! If you are interested in Mercyful Quilts, our friends Preeti and Bernie are running a free quilt along to benefit the palliative care unit. You can find more information and a lot of different mockups of the quilt right HERE.

So, one quilt down, about a dozen more to go! Good thing I like quilting, right? Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. And if you are wrestling a big quilt on a small machine, my sympathies!

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.

Scraps all day, flowers coming soon

 Hello everyone! So, have you noticed that it's March now? March! How did that happen? Truth be told, though, our weather is about a month ahead of that. Spring is popping out all over, and bringing with it lots of pollen. Can't even tell you how many times I've sneezed in the last few days, and my eyes are very itchy. But at least it's warm!

I have somehow accumulated quite a pile of tops of various sizes that are waiting to be quilted. I'm embarrassed about what's still at the bottom of that pile, but this week I started tackling some of the smaller pieces in that pile. Happily, I finished two this week. Hey, they're small! Here is one you might remember from last September:

A cute starburst made of scraps! The squares were a rainbow scrap challenge project, then finally got put into a quilt top, and today they have finally graduated to a finished quilt!

I quilted this with a walking foot in a pale yellow thread. and just quilted lines that meet in the center and radiate off in all directions. It was fast and fun, which is the best thing when you're quilting.  The lines aren't evenly spaced or anything, so let's call them organic. Yep, like the lettuce.

The backing for this little quilt is a piece that I bought from someone's destash sale, and the binding came from a half-yard of a snappy coral that I had on the shelf. I'm kind of disappointed in the coral binding, but it's done and it will have to do.

Taking pictures of this was a bear, but above is one last one I was able to get through the gloom. Yes, we're having more rain! But this little quilt is done and ready to donate. Quilt number two is much smaller, and somewhat less cheery, but equally scrappy:

Yes, it's one of the little quilts I made in January to clean out the blue scrap basket. Hey, it was on the top of the pile! 

You can see how puffy this is. I used a scrap of the Hobbs Poly-Down batting, which made it extra puffy. I used a dark blue thread to quilt it in a simple cross hatch and a bit of leftover dark blue binding to finish it off. I think it turned out okay, but the important thing is that it isn't in the "waiting" pile anymore.

I have a few more small quilts basted and ready to tackle, so I may start that this weekend. Otherwise, I'll just be over here, sneezing and planning the garden for this year. And look what's coming up on that front:

A hillside full of daffodils coming soon! Have a great weekend!

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