Two more quilted

 For a mini quilting marathon I'm pleased I quilted 2 more yesterday.

They both use the same block, the moc log cabin. This started as a group effort at Studio 3. Several of us made the blocks from a shoe box each of squares and triangles. At one point I noticed all the blue so I focused on grouping those. Lois put the blocks together with the green border and I did the blue. Another is quilted and gone and we're down to 1 box. 

Typically this block is assembled as a 9 patch, but the patches finish at 3" so we went with a 4 patch setup for a smaller block so there was more design opportunity. I just quilted a lazy loose meander on a fluffy batting.

I have meetings all week so I may not have much energy for more but I do have another ready to quilt. 

Mini marathon

 I quilted one of Lisa's today. It felt so good. I need to use a bit of a contrasting thread or adjust the light. It is hard to do a good job when the thread matches the  fabric. 

Then I cut batting for 4 more. I'll load one tonight while I chat with her. We're avoiding getting together while Mark is sick in bed. I'm avoiding him too but it's easy wit hin in bed so long.

I may as well sew. We finally got some snow. Maybe 9" in 2 snowfall. It kept missing us. I had a neighbor plow us out. So yes good time to sew. I hope to use all 4 batts soon. So this is 1 of 4. She  hasn't done much binding yet so she'll get some practice on this one. I'll have her do back to front technique. 

 

Pushing Piles

 A quilt I forgot about. I made the blocks for this zipper quilt sometime  in Dec. I think. There are a few variations around I like this best. So much I'll likely do it again. 

Deciding on what I want to work on next slows me down sometimes. I think I'll focus on finishing up a few of the piles sitting out.  Amazing how often they're just moved around my workspace. There's a few hourglass blocks to sew and a shirt that needs the sleeves hemmed. The Railroad Ties are waiting to go to Lisa's to be sewn there.

Then I pulled out a pile of orphans looking for 1 Block.  And a rooster applique project. I'll just fuse that so I'm saving tracing the fusible for a phonecall. 

Besides longarming, I'll pull together some 3 yard quilt bundles and tweak them.  Some of the fabric is out already, piled in a corner. I found more of my patterns . Some that are a tad more than 3 yards. Lisa has a pile in another corner.  

See? No need to think of starting something  new today. And when the time is right I'll just take a kit off the shelf. 

First Heartbeat

Another one quilted this afternoon. Pattern called First Heartbeat from a magazine several years ago. I really like this one. I can see making it again. Or maybe just a kit with a fun print in that blank area.

It took a while to decide how to quilt it. Once that's decided it goes quickly. 

The area without piecing could have been wider but I trimmed it to accommodate the backing available. No, this is not a 3 yard quilt, but it's close. 

I prefer it vertically too. But I had it lengthwise on the longarm. Now to locate the binding. 

Stolen Moments

 A few hours sewing yesterday. Actually cutting and helping Lisa with her project. Always fun with her.  In between I finished up the hour glass units. More waiting to be made.

So maybe not a strippy quilt. But they'll be used somewhere. I don't always have a plan for what I sew but something will come up. I just thought I could do these in stolen moments usually wasted doing nothing. I think the trick is having something thoughtless ready to sew. I'll try that. I have more ready for next time tomorrow.

The borders are finally on this star I made eons ago. It's been hanging out with a bin of backings. Cleaning out the sewing closet a little at a time unearthed a bunch of fun stuff. A bag of junk too. Why do we do that?

Today is quilting with the church ladies. We moved this spring to the Community Center so we could avoid stairs. They have wonderful storage for us too. We make quilts for donation and I'm calling us Comfort Quilters. Maybe Club would be easier.

I'm taking in 6 quilts I quilted for them in January and a pile of scraps. I'm always eager to get any excess out of the house. No kits this time. They will do the bindings and find homes for them. Though I think they are falling behind in that department. 2 of our usual places are gone! Too many quilts out there. 

Slow day at Retreat

 I'm retreating at-home with my online guild. I did more relaxing than quilting since I haven't been sleeping well.

I did pair up  and sew some more triangles  With me its all about contrast. An obvious/distinct line separating light from dark. Notice how the darks with the light are almost the same as the lights with the darks. Deliberately. 

 The triangles were turned in to Comfort Quilters over the years and I didn't know if they were just extra or waste triangles or oversized or what. Yes I have a boxful in every size immaginable. So I only checked and trimmed to size the light triangles then matched the square corners. By sewing 1/4" from the long light triangles edge I'd have hst  units that don't require trimming again. 

I also did some quarter-square triangles for hour glass blocks. Those aren't done but if I like them I might use them as a border in a quilt some day. 

Next I tore out the chartreuse green and fluorescent yellow logs from the railroad ties blocks. They were just too loud for the quilt. I replaced them with pinks and reds and finished the last 3 blocks. I'm happier with it now and I may just add that piano keys border. Deciding on a plain border will be my challenge for tomorrow. 

I hope you had a chance to relax a little today and do some fun sewing. 

 I ended January quilting one more comfort quilt.  There are actually 4 of these. A king size top was donated to our group. It wouldn't fit my frame and we don't donate that size. So I took out a few seams to make the 4. The pattern is a variation of Indian Hatchett. It's  all in the placement of color. We don't have a clue who pieced it. They did a nice job. 

I'd forgotten the back barely fit on 1 1/2 widths. I did add extra as I wasn't in the mood to play chicken. As it turned out the end of the quilt came past the seam by 1/4"  maybe 1/2". Dang. What to do? What to do?

I opted to quilt it short. And trim the edge off. Of course I haven't done that yet.  I'll plan to discuss it on Tuesday with whoever binds it. 

I must remember to baste a temporary strip at the top. I am using the red snappers now for loading quilts and I can't as easily start as close to the top of the available back. 

 Happy quilting

 Sometimes I wish I could quilt every day. Other times I know I need a break from it. 

Monday was spent with Lisa and her UFOs. Tuesday my fella friend was here visiting. By the time we got back from taking him home I was too tired. I didn't get my 20 minutes in quilting yesterday. And that's ok. I needed the break.

Today I made up for it. I woke up raring to go in the sewing room. But Lisa had asked me to join her, so I went before lunch. It would be more fun. I guess it makes sense if we're both home sewing and she's right across the street. I just had to choose something to work on that was ready to go.

I ended up taking the scrap rail fence blocks and strings.  Four hours later I had made another dozen blocks. That brings it to 43 blocks.  I take that back. 3 are short a strip.

I think I'm stopping there though it won't make a big quilt with 7 1/2" blocks. I'm debating borders though. I remembered seeing these strip segments in a box on the top shelf of the closet just a week ago.

After I put my blocks on the wall when I stopped last time I could see it desperately needed some brighter fabrics. There were a few but it was lacking. So I used them generously and now I'm anxious to use the flannel wall again I have a phone call in a bit I will do it then. 

Done. I little rearranging once those 3 strips have been sewn. Then I'll stack them  in order to sew at Lisa's and decide on the border. Sure was fast and fun.  Lisa's having a blast with hers. 

Maybe I'll have a chance to quilt in the morning a bit before I need to run to town. 

Are you quilting today?

But Pink?

 Yes, pink. It wasn't the plan but it worked for me. My options are getting a bit low in bigger yardages. One drawer is stuffed with fat quarters and half yard cuts. The next drawer has limited choices. Maybe I just used the pink to move it out, I liked the first quilt just fine.

I had made the blocks once before. We liked it so I thought I'd do it again, that doesn't happen here often. But once is usually enough with all the options out there. This is what was planned for the blocks above.  

Hoping to get back to the long arm tomorrow. I spent the afternoon here with Lisa. Going through all her UFOs. Must have had over a dozen a few 25 years old. It was fun to see where she is with them after only 6 months of piecing again. A couple tops should be finished quickly. Some she will postpone decisions on for now but they are labeled. The quilting I don't know. They don't all get priority over mine. She is willing to try the long arm again.

Yay. Sew long for now.

The most recent

I didnt find anymore to show except the these last 3 I quilted in the last week.

The blocks in these two samplers were in the orphan block pile. Some I made for class demonstration, some from others. They coordinate so well they look planned. I quilted these both with  a basic lazy meander. There is still quite a pile of orphan blocks for another day in a wide variety of sizes. 

I needed to compensate for two blocks that were smaller. I placed them in the corners and gave them wider sashing on the two outer edges. Worked like a charm.

This Square in a Square version was pieced by Dorrie.

There is one last top of hers to quilt but it's at the bottom of the pile.

I should have a new top to show after this afternoon sewing with Lisa. I've had a top loaded ready to quilt since Wednesday. I will be doing a little ruler work on it. 

Sew long for now.

To Continue

 I've got four more tops that I pieced late last year. There may have been more last year but I am out of the habit of taking a picture.

This propeller quilt started out with an entirely different plan. I didn't like how it was looking so I abandoned the plan and trimmed some of the pieces as created this. All is well except I ran out of the background fabric but still have some of the offending patches left.  I'll have to get creative again. I was just sorting my batik scraps and I didn't think to even look at them.

It sure was fun making the blocks in the quit below.no wonder they are called Happy Blocks. I've kitted up this pattern with novelty prints for our kids comfort quilts. Yep fun and happy especially in bright colors 

I've already made a Monkey Wrench quilt colored like this and alternated the blocks with plain green squares. So this time the plan was the the Baltic Cross. I really liked the setting for these blocks. I'm going to have to find another block that will look as good arranged this way. I'm partial to this border on scrap quilts.

This last top is the Roman Stripes block set on point. My plan was to use a green leaf print. Funny how rummaging in the closet produces just what you need to make the quilt better than planned the blue triangles were donated years ago. I always thought to use them in a scrappy Roman Stripes quilt, just not in these blocks. Does your fabric make decisions for itself too?

I've been quilting the last week. I'll have to snap a few pictures to show you more.

Still kicking

 I've been daydreaming of posting to my blog here again. I always enjoyed it when I did for various reasons I   stopped posting without ever intending to. It should be easy to post an update through 2024. 

I've almost entirely worked on comfort quilts whether piecing using my fabric or church's, cutting and kitting quilts or machine quilting.

 One exception would be the church raffle quilt still it was my fabric and my quilting. This pattern was a great choice because the blocks could all be trimmed to a uniform size with so many individuals  working on it. But they didn't need trimming!

.

 Daughter Lisa moved home for a few months till we cleaned out Studio 3 and moved her in there. I sure miss sewing with the ladies there but now I'm sewing with her. I never dreamt that would happen. So much fun the enthusiasm she has like many of us she is eager to start a new project almost daily. She is eager to join the church ladies. I stopped using the long arm after the raffle quilt. At first because Lisa wanted to use it, but she found it difficult cause she is short and it's a bit of a reach for her. I've also been dealing with heath issues. A little tired of that but it beats the alternative.

Dorinda made these Money Wrench blocks. The comfort quilters were the recipients of over 30 UFOs from her estate. We found another quilter to help finish them so they could be donated. She made another set that went into another quilt that is finished and passed on. 

I made this from a box of scraps. It alternates a 4patch with puss in the corner or uneven 9  patch. 

The light background triangles were donated and so I used them here.  Just recently I found the pretty paisley triangles that were donated with the light ones. I completely forgot about them.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Bigger? Border? I didn't realize my intent was light cream in every block. Maybe I need to add notes or a picture. I love the pumpkin orange. Mark liked it.

The pattern below is Judy Laquidaras pattern called Hanging Chads. After I finished the top and looked at hers I realized she reversed position of lights and darks in a handful of blocks.  I have a hard time doing that. I guess I'll have to try again. 

This is enough for one post. I'll have to do it again. There is more to show.

Just a minute

 I thought I'd catch up my blog on my quilting this winter. I've quilted 17 quilts so far this year. I don't have photos of all. Most all are donation quilts either I pieced or someone in our group. Here they are.

Dorinda made the dresden plate flower and first 2 borders. 

Hmm. Not so sure I quilted this last one. I've got another ready to quilt this afternoon. 

I miss piecing a quilt. I need to do something about that. Maybe I need to look in the warehouse at all tops waiting to be quilted. That whould be a good dose of medicine. 

Always Leftovers

 These two tops are recent finishes. The Broken Dishes was inspired by an antique quilt I saw with 8" blocks. I've done this in 6" and I prefer that but I like these bigger pieces too because they cover alot of area fast. And a bunch of the triangles were leftover from another quilt top recently finished. It's buried upstairs so I haven't shown that yet. I did not plan for this to look Christmassy so I don't look at it that way. I still hope to find something for the border. 

The crumb quilt is one of two I've been working on at Studio 3. Lois was asking for scraps to make a courthouse steps style string quilt. She'd just finished one and enjoyed it so much she wanted to do more. So I pulled out a tub of scrapstrips and I joined her. We each made 2. This one started with strip set ends I collected from several years. Little pieces were joined to make a row. It's very freeing because there are no seams or points to match. The navy/black sashing I used was donated precut at 9" long. I think someone cut the wrong size or decided on a different color. There are enough to make another quilt. Some other day. 

I started this small quilt when a small baggie of 1 1/2" squares were donated. I like this variation of a 9-patch, but if I do it again I'll make bigger blocks. I quilted it with a simple meander.

I've got several more that are almost together. Not sure if I will quilt them soon or just add them to the pile. I'm kind of interested in getting some of the old tops moved out. 

I 

And It's Quilted

The quilting is done a day later than planned on the string quilt the church group put together with strip set ends. I quilted swirls freehand. I need to change that swirl design a bit to go faster and use less thread, less backtracking. I'll doodle on a whiteboard after I look at pantos online. Pantos slow me down so I need to find something I can do without messing up freehand. Often I have a problem with the size and or space of my motifs not being the same size from beginning to end. I know the tricks to help prevent them. I guess I need to focus on that. I will pass this one on to someone else to bind.

 I quilted another one this afternoon. This is a smaller version of the quilt "Midnight Madness", a pattern in my book Twin Peaks. It could be a 15 year old UFO. This one I called "Good Enough". It seemed I was saying that a bunch after we moved mom and dad to be closer to us. She said that often. I was never sure if she was pleased with whatever she deemed good enough. 

Quilted freehand flowers in the pinwheels and leaves and loops in the borders. I used a continuous curves treatment in the small triangles. Fast and Fun! I will add it to my binding pile.

 

Some I Quilted

 To continue updating here this post will show pictures of some quilts I quilted in 2023. 

In May we moved my longarm up out of the basement and into my main floor sewing room. Its a little bit crowded but preferable to the cold cellar. When I bought my longarm in 2008 I had 120 tops or flimsies waiting to get quilted. I never intended to quilt them all. Many I used in my lectures as is. Since then I've quilted about 24 per year on average but apparently most of them are donation quilts for the church quilt group I belong to. I have continued to piece tops and quilt some of my own too. I now have about 130 tops waiting to be quilted. I plan to quilt more of them, whittling away the pile slowly.

This is a top here but it's quilted. The blocks were made from 4" four-patch blocks. 
I didn't rememer what pattern I planned to use them in. Now they are out of the house. text-align: center;">

The name of this pattern is Delectable Mountains. A variation made from
authentic vintage fabrics. I pieced the top about 10 years ago. Sue my SIL loved it and
its the quilt she picked out when she heard that I was gifting a quilt to some in the family.
Sue is a quilter too. I've got a top from her to quilt someday too. 

Prairie Wife pieced perhaps 20 years ago. I always liked it and often hung it as a top over an open door
just to display it. 

6" Ohio Stars if you double click on the photo you should be able to see a close up
and check out the quilting. I thought if draping it on the chair  the light would hilight
the quilting better. Well, maybe. I think I finished this last week, I've been quilting up a storm.

Many of the quilts I make now begin from leftovers from previous quilts, mine or donated pieces.
No doubt the twin-peak triangle units were in my collection of scraps. 

These Monkey Wrench were the other half that Dorinda made. A quilt sure goes
together fast when the blocks are already made and they're alternated with
a plain square. No complaints from me.

I made these little pinwheels at Studio 3 and finished up the top 
a year or 2 ago. I never thought I'd have it quilted already. The binding will be 
done later. I think I will start building a pile to bind. 

No doubt there are a few more I missed. I think I have the camera figured out now and glad to see they didn't change Blogger much. If I can get a decent picture I'd like to post more often. No promises. 

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