Felicity Quilt Top

Can’t believe I finally finished piecing this quilt top, and I chose the hottest day of the year so far in Upstate New York to do so.  Oh, did I mention that the AC in our house broke?  Picture me in shorts, t-shirt and pony tail, piecing and ironing at 2 am with the windows open trying to catch a breeze.  Now that’s quilty dedication.

This is a good sized quilt – 67″ x 88″ and was supposed to be donated last year – before Christmas.  Yes, I’m late, but it’ll work for Christmas 2020 too.  The quilt was too big to photograph on my design wall, so you get the added bonus of my living room rug pattern showing at the sides.  😉

The pattern is called Felicity and was in an AQS magazine – sometime in 2019.  I no longer have the magazine, or I’d have given you the specific one.  It was not hard to make, and was mostly pieced in Tucson.  I ran out of the little red and polka dot square strips, so made do with the striped fabric  on the 2 bottom squares – which will be used for the backing and binding fabric also.  When you’re 2,400 miles away from your fabric collection, and you still want to sew, design opportunities occur.   Doesn’t that sound so much better than making mistakes?

A lot of cross stitching is going on, and I received a new android tablet so I could use an app – Pattern Keeper.  It is a stitch changer.  It’s so much easier to keep track of symbols now.  No more missing one here or there, and having to go back to fill in.  That alone is worth the app purchase.  It does lots more, and I’m using ALL the features – a first for me. I’m not all that fond of learning new software, apps, or operating systems.  I have to be really motivated to do so.

I have to admit, the minute that app becomes available for Apple products,  I’m getting rid of the android tablet and installing it on my iPad.  I love my iPad.  It’s so intuitive.

I can’t let the day go by without acknowledging all the service people – past and present.  I will forever be grateful for the sacrifices made by these brave people.  Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.

Hugs…

 

400th Post

Oh my.  I just realized this is my 400th post.  It seems like I just started blogging.  Guess it’s been lots longer than I thought.  Here’s to lots more posts in the future!!!

I am having a stone cold great time in Tucson.  Our friends just left after a wonderful two week visit with us, and we are so grateful they make the long plane ride to spend some time with us.  See you again soon, Mike and Sue.

Cross stitch is still capturing my attention.  This is the progress I’ve made on my The Finery of Nature:

 

I have also ordered 2 Heaven and Earth designs, which I can not wait to start.  And no, I’m not a multiple project cross stitcher.  One at a time, plus quilting is all I want to juggle.  And let me tell you, this is hard.  Stormy – a really cute owl – has invaded my dreams.  Luckily, I don’t have the recommended fabric with me, or I’m afraid my resolve would be sorely tested.

I got my machine embroidered quilt back from the long arm quilter I tried – Rebecca Hall-Martinez.  She did a wonderful job on my quilt, and her fee was reasonable.  That woman has more talent in her baby finger, than I do in my entire body.  See what I mean:

 

 

The weather has been great.  We’ve had some ups and downs, but anything above 60 and I’m happy as can be.  Even when it’s been a bit cooler, it’s been lots of sunshine, and that’s what I crave.  Bring on the sunshine!!!

Tomorrow I’m going to a birthday party during the day and a cabaret in the evening, Sunday the Tucson Quilt Show at the Convention Center.  My husband is great.  He’s driving 4 quilters, dropping us off at the door, and then picking us up when we’re finished.  It’s lots of fun attending a quilt show with friends.

Next week is jam packed – like every week – 3 quilt meetings, 1 embroidery meeting, the daily walking, grocery shopping, eating out, and last but not least, going to the parks.  The parks here are great.  They have paths I can walk on, plants I’m learning about, and I spotted a cotton tail rabbit on my last walk.

The Jeep needs a little repair, so no wheels for a couple of days.  I’m still going to attempt to fit in a visit to a Tucson needlework store – the West.  I’d like to see if they have the fabric I need for Stormy.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  I’ll be putting myself on the path of temptation.  Ought to be interesting to see what develops.  Stay tuned for the outcome.

Hugs…

#2 Donation Quilt Top

This quilt top was actually finished a couple of weeks ago, but I never got around to taking a good photo. This photo isn’t stellar, but it is being donated tomorrow, so it’s this picture or miss posting about it. 

More radial symmetry, more of the green Christmas themed fabric, and I’m pleased as can be with how it turned out.

I have one more fabric kit from home – using the green Christmas themed fabric, and then that fabric will be completely gone.  This is a VIP print, and 2020 is my year to try and use up all the VIP print fabric I have in my collection.  Now that is impossible, as I have quite a bit of it, but it is what I’m focusing on for 2020.

I’ve already started working on the last kit I brought with me, and surprise, surprise, one of the fabric strips I cut was off 1/8″ It was cut 1/8″ too wide.  Now that doesn’t sound like much, does it?  The problem is, it was used to make strip sets of 11 rows.  6 red – cut correctly, 5 white with red polka dots cut 1/8″ too large.  When that 11 row sewn fabric section was subcut, it made the entire row stripe way too long.

I did not bring anymore of the fabric with me, so guess who’s shortening all those little pieces?  And guess who’s not upset?  Yeah, me.  It’s fixable, it’s not the end of the world, and it has made me slow down and enjoy more socializing than sewing while with my friends.

There are 66 strips to be corrected, so I’ll be working on this project a little longer than expected.  It’s going surprisingly fast though.  Only 54 left to shorten.

It constantly amazes me how patient I am with my sewing now.  Everything I’m making, I really want to make.  Maybe that is why I take these little “oops” moments so well.  Who knows?  I’m sure enjoying having no deadlines, not making quilts so they fit a themed exhibition, and not getting involved with any blocks of the month.   Stress free sewing is great.

Hugs…

 

 

2019 Wrap Up

Happy New Year to everyone!!!

I try to do a wrap up at the end of one year, and beginning of a new one, but we were on the road – our annual 2,400+ mile drive to Tucson.  It’s a long drive and by the time we arrive, all we want to do is hook up to electricity, get water in our RV, and rest – which doesn’t happen quickly.  Doing all the outside hook ups, then all the inside cleaning and rearranging of our belongings takes a while.

Today was the first day I heard the hum of my sewing machine in 2 weeks people – 2 WEEKS!!!  It was sheer bliss.  It makes me so happy to sew.

Nobody showed up today at quilt club, so I had the entire craft room to myself.  At first I was sad, and then I thought, I’m here, I’m going to sew, and it was all good.  No line for the iron, no waiting to use the huge cutting table, plenty of room to spread out my projects.  In fact, I got out two of them, and worked on both of them.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love sewing with my Tucson friends.  It’s nice to get caught up with each other, and creativity flows.  It’s also nice to sew quietly by myself.  It gave me a chance to get reacquainted with one of the fabric kits I assembled for Tucson sewing, and wonder of wonders, not one mistake was made.

I started piecing the pre-cut kit, till I realized I forgot to bring the white yardage from the RV with me.  That’s okay.  I got as far as I could without the yardage, and then took out the fabric I cut for a scrap quilt I’m also making.  It consists of 2″ x 3.5″ pieces of fabric I’ve cut from my fabric scraps.  I’d made one block at home to make sure the idea worked, and today made another.  The new one is on the right:

I don’t know where I saw this, but it’s ingenious.  You never have to match a seam, and you can make use of lots of small fabric scraps.

You start with joining the two center rectangles.  Then – looking at the block on the right – you add one rectangle to the top and bottom.

Next you sew 2 rectangles together, and add it to the side, then sew another 2 rectangles together and add it to the other side.

Sew another 2 rectangles together and add it to the bottom, sew another 2 rectangles together and add it to the top, then sew 3 rectangles together and add it to the side, then sew another 3 rectangles together and add it to the other side.  Voila, the block is complete.

You could keep on going and create one big block, but that gets to be a lot of fabric by the machine for a full size quilt.  I prefer making blocks, and will then sew them together, turning every other block, so when you sew them together, you don’t have to match a single seam.

Some of the fabric is from the very first quilt I made, some from the first quilt I made for my daughter, some from a friend who moved to Florida, some from a friend in my quilt guild back home, some was left over from placemats I made for a friend who has since passed away.  You get the idea.  Not only am I using fabric from my collection, I’m remembering family and friends.  Not a bad way to start a new year.

Now for the wrap up.  I completely used 2 pieces of fabric.  Now don’t laugh.  Anything out of my fabric collection is a huge accomplishment.  This year, I know there will be 3 completely used before we head home.  Yes, I’m upping the stakes – not by a lot, but I’m going in the right direction.

I also totally emptied 6 spools of thread.  I’m talking 2 of the 1,200 yard spools, 2 of the 500 yard spools, and 2 of the normal size Mettler/Sulky spools.

I also sold my knitting machine, yarn tree, every single machine knit book, magazine, or pattern I owned with 9 humongous bags of coned yarn.  Took me two days to gather and carry all that stuff downstairs.  Yup, me and my trusty chair lift managed all that – except for the yarn tree.  Needed help for that.  It was tall – about 7′ high, and wide with 80 dowels sticking out of 4 long pieces of wood.  It was like trying to get a very tall, swivelly porcupine down the stairs.  Yes, the thing had a swivel base, and I kept on getting poked all over trying to balance it, and stay in the chair lift at the same time.

Donated and gifted 3 quilts and 4 pieced quilt tops too.  I make way too many of them, and if they aren’t in rotation, it’s time for someone else to enjoy them.  I realized after one went missing after my last trunk show, I might as well get the pleasure of gifting them or donating them to where I want them to go, not to some thief.

Had emergency surgery in October, and it was the best thing ever to happen to me.  It was an easy surgery – laparoscopic gall bladder surgery, and the darn thing was pre-cancerous.  Who knew?  The gall bladder attack wasn’t any fun, but I only had the one.  Now I feel terrific, lost 2 dress sizes, and the surgeon removed the nasty cells before they could turn into something very bad.

I am blessed to still have my husband, and a wonderful daughter in my life.   Lots of friends too.  Material things are losing their importance to me.  Although I wouldn’t refuse a new Juki sewing machine if one decided it wanted to come home and live with me.  😉

Well, that’s it for 2019.  I’m looking forward to seeing what 2020 will bring.  Much love, creativity, and peace to my family, friends, and you my readers.

Hugs…

 

What I Am Up To

Usually, I post an almost completed project, or textile experiments I’m exploring.  You know what?  It takes me a long time to get something completed.  That’s why I don’t post often.

That’s not a complaint.  I enjoy making my projects, I love my sewing machines, and every time I walk into either one of my sewing rooms – yes, I have two rooms, and I use both of them, I do so with anticipation.

I was in a major hurry to complete the Petal Pizazz quilt blocks so I could take my embroidery machine in for a tune-up.  It had been a long time, so it was long overdue. Finished up the blocks, delivered the machine, then promptly stopped working on the project.

The reason?  The sashing fabric I selected.  It’s gorgeous fabric – a cotton/linen blend, with beautiful drape.  The drape is why I stopped in my tracks.  Each and every piece needs to be interfaced before I can sew the blocks together.   Fusing interfacing to fabric is not high on my “love to do” list.  In fact, it’s really high on my “let’s put it off for another day” list.

Not only does it have to be interfaced, it also has to be squared up, and I do that by pulling the threads till the thread goes across the entire width:

 

That fringe all gets cut off, so I’ll have a nice, straight of grain edge.

Why am I using this fabric?  Because it’s lovely stuff, and I purchased a lot of it.  They are really nice big napkins, so not only am I doing all the above to it, I actually start by removing the edge seam, iron the napkin, then go into fringe action.

What can I say? This fabric really is lovely, and I did purchase a lot of them.  I also sold a lot of them, and they dye beautifully too.   I hope to use them for an item of clothing one day.   12 of these beauties cost me less than $10.  I am not about to admit to how many dozens of them I still have.

So today, I am in fusing mode.  I know I won’t finish it all.  I can only stand so much time with placing my iron, counting 15 seconds, then moving it to the next little section, repeat, repeat, repeat – 72 times.  Yes, 72 times.  I calculated the amount of fabric I need fused with my iron size, and that’s how many times I have to repeat that step.  What can I say?  I’ll resort to doing math before I buckle down and fuse that fabric.  😉

I also made 3 quilt blocks as I got distracted, and one of them will be a future donation quilt.  The jury is out on the other design.  It’s a paper pieced design, that I drew in EQ-8, but it’s an awful lot of work, and I need to make 4 of them to be sure I like the effect, and paper piecing firmly resides on the “let’s put it off for another day” list.  It’ll probably never move off that list.  I’ll post pictures of them soon.

In the meantime, I am heading upstairs to fuse a little more fabric.  I do have 3 out of 12 embroidery designs sashed, so maybe my little bite, by little bite approach will eventually be turned into a completed project.

Hugs…

 

Dirty Paint Pour And Embroidery Designs

Last Thursday was my Ogden Art Group meeting, and we had a lot of fun learning about dirty paint pouring.

There are oodles of You Tube videos on the subject, and Karen kindly put together all the supplies, and had kits ready for us to try this out.  This is how mine looks:

I didn’t put enough paint on it, so moved some paint around with my finger on the right side to make sure the entire canvas was covered.  Along with white, only 3 colors were used, and it was fun to see how they blended, moved, and created cells.  I love the area with the cells.

I haven’t decided how I will use this.  It would be neat as the focal point of an art quilt, or I could keep it the size it is and add some beads.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I would like to try this again on ceramic tiles.  I could stand some coasters, and do have left over tiles from the Mod Podge project.  Something tells me the uneven surface will create very different images.  I might purchase some flat white glazed tiles to see just how different the two surfaces will react to the paint.

16 embroidered blocks were also made in the last couple of weeks, and I have 10-12 more to make.  This is the first time I’ve done applique blocks like this, and while it uses a lot of stabilizer, it is fun trying this applique technique.  As soon as I get the top pieced, I’ll take a photo and share the pieced top with all of you, but here is a sample of one of the designs:

The yellow fabric is some of my hand dyed fabric.  I’ve decided I’m going to use a piece of my hand dyed fabric in every quilt I make from now on.  There is no time like the present to use what I’ve dyed over the years, and it’s making me very happy to finally cut into some of my “precious” fabric.

Just for hoots, I used cactus fabric for the leaves, and the minute my husband saw it, he said, “You made a cactus rose!”  Now I had no intention of it being a cactus rose, but now that’s the only way I can see it too.

It is very satisfying making my fabric selections from my entire collection now.  The border is a William Morris print I was “saving” for something “special”.  Special is the present.  Nobody is guaranteed endless days to create.  It makes no sense to deprive myself of using the “good” fabric.

There are 12 flower designs in this quilt, and a cornerstone design.  It can be purchased from here.  Missi Skeldale has a facebook group, and that’s how I discovered this design.

Upstate New York is having the kind of weather I love.  Great, warm, sunny days, and nice, cool nights with low humidity.  This is my kind of weather, and I’m enjoying it.  I hope all of you are enjoying your September too.

Hugs…

 

 

 

Take 5 Block

Oh yes.  Today’s Take 5 block turned out much more to my liking.  Here it is:

I’m a big fan of red and white.  I love high contrast.  The green is one of the radial symmetry blocks I’ve been making.  That is the fabric that will be totally used up from my fabric collection.  And btw, my interest in radial symmetry is all because of Beth’s Blog  She’s a friend of mine, and is leading me down the radial rabbit hole.  😉

Some of you might remember, I select one fabric from my fabric collection a year, and use it, till it is gone.  Imagine my surprise, when I realized the strawberry fabric actually looks good with this combination.  It’s all about the color.

Well, it just so happens, the strawberry fabric was going to be my selection for 2020.  Seems like it couldn’t wait politely for its turn.  All the strawberry fabric will we leaving the collection too.  I have quite a lot of it, and whatever doesn’t get used in the quilt top, will be used for the quilt backing.  I can’t believe how well this worked out for my fabric management system.

Yeah, right.  I have a fabric management system.  LOL  All I’ve managed to do, is put a couple of fabric pieces that were being stored very neatly on the floor in my daughter’s old bedroom, onto the shelves in my sewing studio.   Yes, I have a pile of washed fabric on the floor in my daughter’s old bedroom, and another pile on top of fabric bolts in there, and another pile on top of my blocking table in the same room, and another pile on top of a storage unit in her closet, and yet another two piles in my bedroom, and another on top of my hope chest.

Are you rolling on the floor laughing out loud yet?  I hate to fess up, but I have fabric in lots more places than that.  I am proud to say there is no fabric in the kitchen, laundry room, both bathrooms and the family room.  I should get some sort of credit for that.

I am in my happy place today – will see my daughter, did some sewing, my hunky husband is home today, the sun is shining, and only have the usual aches and pains.  I hope all of you are in your happy places too.

Hugs…

 

Take 5 Block

I was watching a YouTube video on a Sashed Take 5 Quilt and thought the big square would be perfect for one of the radial symmetry blocks I’m making.  Since my blocks were a different size than the ones in the video, I did some quick math – at midnight – and we all know how that can go wrong, and sewed a block with some scrap fabric:

I like the block a lot, but don’t like these fabrics, so if you can, please ignore the fabrics and focus on the layout, this might be an easy block you’d like to make too.  And btw, my math was spot on.  Yeah for me!!!

I will be adding a 1″ sashing to the block to continue with each piece having a thin white piece of fabric around it.  Not only is it visually pleasing, it totally eliminated having to match seams.

I cut:

One 6″ square – the strawberry fabric

Three 3″ squares

One  3″ x 6″ rectangle.

The sashing is 1″ white fabric strips.

The above photo measures 9″.

A radial symmetry block would look great where the strawberry fabric is located.  I’m thinking a controlled scrappy approach would look good, and will make one tomorrow.

I am hosting a Labor Day gathering tomorrow, so might not get to sewing the block, but was happy to be spending this first day of September doing what I love – using my sewing machine, and experimenting with a new-to-me quilt block.

I hope all of you will be celebrating Labor Day with your friends and family, or if they are far away, doing something you love to do.

Hugs…

 

The Last Hexie and a Hoo-Ha

Yes, one more hexie to share.  I got to thinking about all the possibilities and decided to try the fused idea with machine button hole stitch:

There are pros and cons about this.

The pros:

Easy

Quick

Completely done by machine

 

The cons:

Stiff as a board

Used one layer of fabric, so the dark print showed through the light curved area.  Not obvious in the photo, but obvious in person.

 

I did finally get the flower petal depth to my liking though.  Practice did help, and you want a humongous laugh?  If I had turned the page one more time, I would have found the pattern for the flower and hexie on a previous page.  I forgot you have to turn the pages from the back to the front for Japanese books.   Ah well, it was good to exercise my brain.

And now for the Hoo-Ha.  I did not name it that.  I’d have named it Peek-A-Boo.  I saw it on Pinterest, but the blog with the tutorial is no longer available.  I studied the photo, and thought I should be able to figure it out, and I did:

I really like the texture, and this could be added to just about anything.  It could be a quilt block, it could be used for the yoke of a shirt, it could be used to accent a bag flap, or you could make an entire piece of fabric for yardage, and on, and on, and on.

It was really easy to make too, and while there are no pictures, I’m happy to share the written instructions.

You start with a base fabric.  I cut the floral print fabric an inch wider all around – to have something to hold when I was sewing it, or for seams in case I want to use it in something.

I made muslin binding for the light fabric on top.  It’s not like making binding for a quilt though.  I took a piece of fabric and cut 3″ strips.  Drew a line down the center – used a pencil and a light touch.

Brought the strips to the ironing board, and folded one long edge to meet the line.  Turned it and ironed the other side to meet the pencil line.  The result was a nice long piece of fabric with folds along the edges.

There were 3 pieces made for the photo above.

I laid them next to each other on top of the floral fabric, and kept them in place by using painter’s tape.  Then I drew a straight line across the 3 fabric strips every 4″.  I sewed across those lines.  That distance can be easily changed, and whatever length you use, will be the length of the floral fabric peeking out.

Then I turned the edges and using a straight stitch, sewed along the edges.  I turned and sewed without using any pins, and it worked perfectly fine for me.  I went down one side, then up the other.  Repeat across the piece and voila, you have completed making a piece of Hoo-Ha fabric.

My next project is a utility project.  I need to make a padded cover for the chair lift in my RV.  The darn thing has a seat that is a flat piece of solid metal.  My nether region does not appreciate sitting on a piece of flat metal.  😉

I’ve been using a cushion, and it slides around and makes me feel like I’m going to fall out of the chair lift.  Since I’m about 5′ up in the air when I get in the chair in the RV – picture me waving like Queen Elizabeth as I make my descent from the RV to anybody walking by – it wouldn’t be a good idea to fall out of it.  It would kind of ruin the image of a gracious RVer waving to her friends, so a cushion making I will be doing.

Wish me luck, folks.  I don’t do practical projects all that well.  I piece with the best of you, I can actually do a lot of couture sewing techniques, but when it comes to practical sewing?  My sewing mojo leaves the premises.

Hugs…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hexie Cathedral Windows

This is the last pattern I’m making from the Japanese Quilt magazine I was gifted, and it definitely took a little time for me to get it right.   It’s basically a cathedral window concept, but shaped like a hexie.  The thing is the number of flower petals you create, drives the shape.  When you see the step by step photos, you’ll understand what I just wrote.

I started out by drawing a 6 petal flower – 6 of them – before I got the proportions correct.  And the funny thing is, if I had started by drawing a hexie the size I wanted, then added the flower petals to the straight sides, it would have gone a lot faster.

I traced the shape onto a 5 1/2″ square of muslin, then added another same size piece of fabric and sewed them together:

I used a small stitch length – 2.0.  Then I trimmed a scant 1/8″ seam around the stitched shape, and cut slits in one of the layers:

Turned the shape and shaped the flower curves with my thumbnail.

Next, you cut a piece of fabric and batting to fit – 2″ straight edges:

Place them in the flower center – which covers the slits you made when you turned the flower:

I used my sewing machine to baste the batting and fabric inserts in place – big long stitches – 6.0.  Trust me, the batting and fabric insert shifts if you don’t baste them in place.

Next you turn a flower petal over and hand sew it – just like you would for the turned edge of a cathedral window block:

I did not sew through to the back.  Sewing through the fabric insert and batting works just fine, and this way your back is nice and neat.

If you’re adventurous, I think this would like nice with straight stitch machine sewing sew the folds in place.  That would eliminate the hand sewing, or a button hole stitch might look nice.  And if you’re really adventurous, I’d try fusing the entire flower, then placing the insert inside the flower, turning the petals, and fuse in place.  The turned flower petals could be raw edge appliqued, but it would certainly streamline making this block.

The petal depth, determines how much of the fabric insert shows:

My points are not perfect on these, as I was in a mega hurry testing this idea, but you can see how these blocks would fit beautifully together – just like hexie pieces would.  The straight edges are 2″ long.

I saw pictures of a pillow made with this technique in the same Japanese magazine with the cat tissue box cover, and thought the pillow was really pretty.  Since I was successful with the cat, I gave this cathedral window idea a try.

Hexies are complicated enough, but trust someone to come up with a way to make them even more challenging, and trust me to be intrigued by the idea.  It did give me a great feeling of satisfaction to work out the details,  but I am taking a break from using that Japanese magazine.

That’s not saying I’m done with this idea.  I’m thinking a flower with 5 petals would work well, and there is no reason I can’t go big.  Or how about triangles, or any other shape that tessellates.  Ooh, the possibilities!!!

Hugs…