QUILTING SAMPLES AND THE LEFTOVERS

 I have spent most of this week quilting my Sunflower quilt top.  The only thing that was on my mind other than getting that done was also coming up with some additional quilting stitches beside the serpentine stitch I have used on my previous tops.  I have a membership in Craftsy, so decided to take some time to watch Jacquie Gering's Next Steps class on using decorative stitches for quilting.  Her advice was to make a sample of stitches.

There are some interesting ideas here.  I think I will try some of them out on a smaller project and see how that goes. 

Last week I finished this top for my charity group to use in a fundraiser.  It was a kit with pattern and all the fabric.

After completing the quilt top I had a good deal of leftovers from the kit's fabric.  There is enough here to make a runner for myself.   

I have done a good deal of fussy cutting butterflies. I think I have a nice start.  So I will get busy and see where this goes.  

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THE SUCCESSFUL WEEK

This week has been very productive.  I finished last weeks project and also started a couple of my own quilts and made good progress on them as well.  I love this time of year, we processed some apples and they are in the freezer ready to make apple crisps and apple pie, and some cherries as well. Our tomato plants are growing like weeds and we even harvested a couple cherry tomatoes, and the vegetable stand we love is open and has all sorts of yummy veggies to purchase.

I purchased these two patterns and fabric kits from Connecting Threads.  I wanted some fast and easy projects finished up for upcoming gifts.

I got the first one completed and I have been working on quilting it.

I am brand new at quilting my own quilts so I am very much in a steep learning curve.  I purchased this Quilters Select ruler some time ago, stashed it in the drawer and pretty much forgot about it.  But drawing lines with various markers has been a chore.  This rulers is extra thick, and it has a surface on the back of it that sticks to the fabric.  I can line up ruler to the side of my machine foot and guide the stitching with no issues at all.  With the large holes in the center I can grip the ruler and guild the machines foot right along the edge.  This one is 2 by 8 inches, so I just ordered the larger size of 3 by 12.

This is the second kit I purchased.  I like this one even more than the first.  In fact the pattern is so nice I have cut another out with some of my own fabric stash.

And yes, last week's Project is complete, and it is off to the ladies that asked me to make it for them and they will quilt it.  I will get it back to bind and do the handwork.  It is destined to go to some charity event as a fund raiser and be auctioned off.   

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THE PROJECT

I have spent this past week working on a project for my Warm Wrappings charity group.  The two ladies in charge of the group asked if I would make a quilt kit up for them that they were not able to manage.  Sure, sounded like fun. 

Now, that situation did surprise me a bit, as both these ladies are very experience and exceptionally good quilters.  But, I did know both were going on a couple summer trips and I figured timing to get it done for possibly an upcoming organization doing a fundraising auction event was a reason to ask me to do it for them.  

I have it done thus far.  There are two more borders to go on it.  I do know that there was a LOT of fussy cutting of the fabric for the panel pieces and also the six floral pieces between the square panels.  One thing they knew about me was I am a very accurate piecer, and Oh Boy was that needed for this project.  On top of it some fabrics had lots of extra and others were just barely enough.

I did take some creative license on the four blocks in the corners of the center piece.  The border fabric that was used in the floral pieces between the 4 square panels had strips of large and small butterflies, moths, and dragonflies.  Those 2" finished squares were supposed to be 4 patches of 1"each finished.  Hmmmm, I don't think so!  Why do all that piecing when one has these little guys that were a perfect size to fit into that space instead. 

Well, here is my pieced second border.  The top and bottom borders are done and I am working on the sides now.  To add to all the fussiness 52 of those greenish colored triangles are one-way fabric so have to be cut very carefully so that they are all going in the same direction from top to bottom on all four sides.  After that just one 2.5 inch border in white, then it goes back to them they will quilt it and I get it back to do the binding and handwork. 

Just because after all that above, I thought I earned a moment of cuteness.  My daughter sent me this picture of her newest pets addition to her back yard farm.  They live in the country on about 4 acres and she has a number of chickens, ducks, and peacocks, and now it appears she has these little guys and they are geese.  

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ALL FINISHED

Still having some blog comments not going through to my emails.  I apologize to those of you that comment and I do not reply.  I have found that I can reply through my Mail AP on my computer, however it is a new computer and for the life of me I can not get it to work.  Time to call in the IT guy (youngest daughter's husband), maybe he can get it to work.

Over the weekend I worked on making a couple of these fabric gift boxes.  It took several very frustrating hours, I had lost the pattern and spent the entire afternoon trying to recreate it from a prior made one.  The pattern is all one piece 11 inches by 21, of outside, lining, and stablizer.  The zipper is on the 11 inch sides.  Once the zipper is in then just boxing the four corners and inserting the handle is all that is left.  Lesson: Write things down and keep them.

My Butterly quilt is done.  All quilted, and the binding nearly sewn down by hand.  I am really pleased with this quilting job.  Just my second attempt at a relatively large quilt 50 by 62 inches myself.  Just goes to show you really can teach an old lady something new.  

I ended up having three blocks left over.  A quick table runner seemed a good idea.  The pastel variegated thread was still in the machine after doing the quilt, why not.  

Zoey had a difficult time of it last week.  A trip for a shampoo, haircut, blow-dry, and manicure was just a bit too much as far as she is concerned.  A sun bath and nap on the living room sofa was the perfect way to recover from such an ordeal.

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BUTTERFLIES AND YORKIES

 I spent the better part of this last week quilting my Butterfly quilt.  Having managed to quilt myself the Wonky Block and a baby quilt over the last couple weeks, I am feeling really accomplished at this.

This one is bigger than the last two, but it is going really well.  I think the real key at least for me is moving that machine out to the dining table.  Lots of room to work has made it so much easier to manage.

I finished the binding on my recent appliqué project.  Just in time for some rainy spring weather.

Yes, a mug rug for Zoey.  Actually an 8 by 11 inch water bowl place mat.  I could not resist using this doggy fabric.  Was she impressed, no not really.    

And here she is, all 8 pounds of her.  Just back from her spa day at the groomers.  Hair cut and manicure, still not impressed.  Life is really bothersome some days when you are a Yorkshire Terrier.  

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ONE DONE AND ONE TO START

Blogger continues to give me issues.  Comments do not go to my email.  I have fused with settings and still not much progress.  I  have always liked to email back and let commenters know I appreciate them.  Now, very few seem to go through.  Just to let those of you know that do make comments that I appreciate them very much and would love to know what is going on.  I sure cannot figure it out. 

I enjoyed quilting my Wonky Blocks quilt so much last week that I decided to put together a baby quilt for my charity group and quilt it as well.  Fun little quilt 36 by 36.  A perfect very quick and easy finish.

It is time to start a new appliqué project.  Appliqué really is what I prefer and love doing out of all the different quilting processes.  Fabric choices seems to be the one real chore for me though.

I have a small stash of Australian fabric, and picked up on sale some Batiks that I thought might really work well.  Not really sure right now how this is going to go together.  I still need some sort of background fabric.  So  I think shopping for some interesting background beige or tan fabrics is in order.  Not sure where this is going as of yet. 

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YES! I QUILTED IT MYSELF

I don't normally quilt anything myself unless it is small, runners, small wall hangings and pretty much nothing bigger than 36 by 36.  I watched a YouTube this past week on quilting on your domestic machine and thought I might be crazy, but I would give it a try.

I moved my Bernina 750 out to the dining room table.  I knew I needed a good deal of space.  This quilt had 8" blocks and was 40" by 48".  I pinned pressed and smoothed out the first row and started quilting it proceeding row by row.  

Success!  No wrinkles and quilted with a serpentine stitch approximately every 2 inches.  Just finishing up the handwork on the binding. 

Lori Holt from the Fat Quarter shop had a YouTube tutorial on these 10 inch butterfly blocks so I figured that I would attempt to eliminate my Tilda stash.  At this point I can only get 20 blocks cut out of my Tilda leftovers.  I will have to turn the blocks and set 4  across and 5 down.  It will require lattice strips of probably 2 inches.  So should come out at 46 by 58.  Well, if I was able to do quilt the Wonky Blocks quilt successfully I figure I can manage this Butterfly quilt.

I finished my other Tilda quilt last week.  It will be turned into my Warm Wrappings charity group to be quilted, bound and distributed to 5 local agencies in our area in October.  I had a goal of making 12 quilt tops for them this year and this completes my commitment.

This coming week I am making some spring placemats for myself and very possibly doing some more quilting of those butterflies too.

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FINISHING THEM UP

This week I have spent a good deal of time doing handwork on a number of finished quilts and runners.  My stash of baby quilts that I keep for my daughters to give away as shower gifts once again was greatly in need of a few new additions.  

This particular fabric has been in my stash for several years.  I just hated to cut it up.  When I ran across it again I thought it really makes a very pretty baby quilt.

I also finished my linen and Tilda runner.  I really love the textured  linen I used as the background for the appliqué.  I used invisible thread for the appliqué and did not think that any other quilting needed to be done. 

While going through runners to put out for this nice spring weather I ran across this runner.  Not sure why it has been stashed in the closet for so long.  Time to get it out again and show it off.  

The Gone Fishing quilts were given to my two grandsons over the Easter weekend.  They were very happy with them.  

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WONKY LOG CABINS & SPRING BOUQUET

I spent the majority of this past week getting the bindings on my two Gone Fishing Quilts.  I still have my Picnic Under the Stars quilt that also needs its binding sewn on and the handwork done on it.  But I took a bit of a break and worked on Wonky log cabin blocks. 

I originally had three blocks done last week with the dark colored logs all the same print.  I discovered that if I did that I would not have enough jelly roll strips to get 30 blocks completed.  So did a bit of un-sewing and did them with two different dark fabrics.  So a bit over half done with these guys.  

Have all the remaining blocks cut and ready to go.  

Shannon Brinkley had this free appliqué pattern available this past week.  I still have a lot of Tilda fabrics left over from a previous project so thought I would make a pretty spring runner.

I had several linen fabrics stashed away and ran across this one with a textured grid.  I think I will do the appliqué with invisible thread and a small zigzag with a very light weight batting and not do any quilting except for the appliqué stitching as my quilting.  I think the textured grid on the fabric is perfect.  Just have another appliqué bloom to set down on the other end of the runner and finish this up with a pretty Tilda binding.    

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GONE FISHING UPDATE AND WONKY LOG CABINS

I think the rain has finally stopped in our area.  It might actually be the beginning of some spring weather.  I may have finally got my blog email issue cleared up too.  Technology is wonderful until it isn't.

My quilter published my finished Gone Fishing quilt on their Facebook site on Friday and I picked up the second one with the blue lattice on Saturday.  Now to bind this thing, it is 74" by 94".  I have been worried as both have to be done by the middle of this month.  They are gifts for two grandsons, one  for his birthday and the other just because I don't want him to wait until August for his. 

No small task to get the binding on this quilt.  I moved my Bernina 750 to the dining room table and set up chairs to manage excess hanging over.  I was greatly surprised that it worked really well.  I had the binding on it with no problems at all.  Now the hand work sewing the binding down and get the second one bound too.

I had a really large Jelly Roll of spring fabrics setting around for several years.  I recently purchased a set of Wonky Log Cabin rulers by Jean Ann Wright and decided to take a bit of time and try them out.  The 10 inch size uses 2.5" strips.

  

I only made them up to 8 inches with the 10 inch ruler as I did not have sufficient fabric to continue the third row of light and dark fabrics. But they are fun!  I hope to be able to get enough made for a small quilt, but figure if that doesn't work I can make placemats or a table runner out of them instead.

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