New Pile Started

Now there are two quilts waiting for binding. This is something to celebrate. Here is some of the quilting I did on the latest.

I have another little one to put on the frame. I hope I can get that done before starting another top. I haven't looked for the blue to border the Delectable Mountains yet. I Have been working too long a the computer so I ache more than usual. Taking another spill on the ice this winter hasn't helped either. I am blessed that the only real injury is my pinky finger tip. Nothing worth going to the doctor for, but ouch.

Waiting for Borders

Here I go again. The Delectable Mountains top is ready for borders.  I have some of the flower fabric left, but if I want it bigger than 86" I will want to add a second border of something else. I am not sure what I might use. I want to decide soon because I don't want another top sitting on the shelf waiting for a border. That seems to be a habit of mine.

Otherwise I am liking it, but not so much to keep. I mentioned to Mark that maybe I'd try to sell it right away. Then he said he liked it. Maybe cause it is blue, maybe cause it is bright, but I shouldn't have put that white in the center and the quilting is awful. It doesn't show up at all. Smart mouth on that guy. He has been kidding around so much more since he's retired. Yes, it has been going very well. He is bored once in  a while and I suggest he help me with my quilts and he keeps saying "Not yet". What does that mean?

We wanted some exercise the other day so we trudged through the frozen marsh across the creek from us. We have been here 20 years and we never did that. I thought it would be more of a jungle than it was. I must be in better shape than I thought cause my legs didn't get sore at all. We have had little snow this winter so far. Rain last night melted what snow we had. That is fine with me as long as we get some precip after the drought last summer. Another walk outside today, it's supposed to be in the 40's. Very mild for us this time of year.
I hope to finish up a quilt in the studio later today. Maybe this plan I have of one pieced top for every quilted top will work. Not a new years resolution, just a good idea.That way maybe I can keep my stash of tops at under 100.

Ready to Assemble

All the blocks for my Delectable Mountains quilt  are done. The blocks are arranged on point and I will be able to make 4 quarters to join before I add the corners and borders.  I will find this much easier than the usual diagonal rows.

I don't know when I will get back to it though. I have to catch up with bookkeeping and report sales tax. I still haven't gotten back to the quilt down in the studio either. Maybe later tonight I can quilt. I have been at the desk all afternoon.

More quilting than piecing

I can't show you the front but maybe you can  see from this that I have been getting some quilting done.

 I took this one off the frame a few days ago and have another one loaded. I have not been able to get back to quilt it cause I have been busy with our neighbor lady. A few days ago she had a bad fall and spent 2 days in the hospital. She came home yesterday in time to celebrate her 92nd birthday today. She is being difficult as 92 year olds can be and I am glad I am not solely responsible for her. Mark's halo is shining bright today.
I am feeling a bit stressed from it all and hope to get some sewing time in to make me feel better. But first I am off to my fella friends to take care of his meds. He often makes me feel better.

This is a sampler for church. It was fun trying different freehand designs for each block and a swag set for the border. I was reminded once again why the backing needs to be so much larger for the longarm.

Start of Another Classic

This quilt is going together quickly. The triangle papers helped and the large half-square triangles cover an area quickly, too. The bright blue is refreshingly different for me, but this time of year it's nice and cheery on a cloudy dreary winter day. Maybe I need to consider more quilts that would be fast like this so I can bust some stash. My drawers are packed tight.

 This is the same Delectable Mountains pattern that the church basement ladies did for the raffle a few years ago. I had the ladies paper piece the rows of half-squares so they all turned out the same size. I don't think any of us liked doing it that way, but how else could we get everybody to sew the same width seam allowance. Obviously doing it all myself isn't a concern.

Time to check everybody's projects linked up at Judy's. 

It's not Cheating

I cut the Delectable Mountains quilt out quickly thanks to the triangle papers I used. I wouldn't ordinarily use them, but am glad I did. I typically do scrap quilts so use a triangle tool to cut triangles from strips but since this quilt only has three colors used in the half-square triangles I thought it would be easier to use the papers. I have them left here from years ago when I taught a basic quilting class.

I needed 350 of the triangle pairs and it was nice not to have to measure them when cutting. In case the concept is foreign to you, the idea is to layer contrasting fabrics right sides together with the paper pinned on top. Stitch on the sewing lines, cut on the cutting lines, rip the papers off and press.  Removing the papers is pretty easy because it's thin newsprint.  I know there are several brands of papers for piecing half-square triangle units. These only say "Copyright 1991 Mimi Shimp", but I thought they were the best.

Tuesday there was a quilt club meeting at BF. I brought my mystery for show and tell. A new mystery and block of the month started, but I didn't join either.I just don't have the patience for them.But fun was had by all.

Twisted Clover

After reviewing the quilt tops I made in 2012 (by clicking the 2012 label at right) I saw that I didn't post a picture of this top with the border. The top is now safely filed away with the other quilt tops I've made for the fun of it.

Tonight I expect to finish quilting the border on a comfort/sampler quilt. When that one is done, I have others ready and waiting to get quilted. Yesterday I started cutting out a Blue Delectable Mountains quilt.  I don't think there is any way I could just focus on quilting and not have some piecing going too. I usually do my piecing while I am on the phone with my fella friend and that is near every day for an hour that he entertains me. I can't talk on the phone while I quilt with Lenni. I could use headphones,and even though it is easy to multitask with him on the phone, I need to pay attention to where I am quilting. Even though my seam ripper is my friend, I'd rather avoid it if I can.

A Hint of Honey

My stars! Are all your latest quilts one of your favorites too?  I put these together the other day and have been enjoying it on my flannel wall since. Now I am trying to resist the urge to quilt it right away because I have other quilting I need to get done first.   Sue offered to hand quilt it because it looks old and shouldn't reproduction quilts all be hand quilted?  My argument is no, that there are actually examples of machine quilted quilts going back to shortly after the time when sewing machines were invented.  She also thought it ought to be quilted with simple straight lines going diagonally through the blocks.  Again I had to point out that feathers were not uncommon on antique quilts. I plan to quilt feathered wreaths. They are fun to quilt. And to think at one time I thought they were kinda ugly.

This top  finishes only 73" and I am also trying to resist adding a border, pieced or otherwise.  Borders on antique quilts were common enough, but amazingly if it wasn't narrow, the border was often only added on one, two or three sides. The longer it sits unquilted the greater the chances of it having a border added.  I will take my chances. It's certainly nothing to worry about.

I spent yesterday getting some tops ready to quilt.  I need to get them done for the next book.  I won't start them though till the sampler I'm quilting now is done.  So, if I don't post much, you will know what I am up to.

My honey is thinking of keeping bees in his retirement and noted the honey colored background in this quilt. And it sure looks yummy to me. He likes it too.