Stalled on the Wall

Everything has pretty much stalled on the wall, both here and at Studio 3. I did cut more last night and this morning so I am ready to sew, but that will be between hanging out online and outside.

We haven't had much of the snow this winter that others have. Actually only about 1" out there today that promises to be gone by tomorrow night. That allows us to work outside. Monday we had about 4 acres of brush chopped out of our wetland. It was mostly red twig dogwood and the invasive buckthorn.  I am not sure why they don't call the red twig dogwood invasive. They ought to. I'm very excited about how it opened it up. Didn't know there is a bit of a ridge through the middle of it. Perfect place to make a path. Now we have to wait another year before we can burn all that dead vegetation. Meanwhile we will work at using poison to kill some of those bushes and make a path. There are already tons of wildflowers there and now I will be able to see them and they have room to spread.

 


                                                   Here's a before.             And an after.

It's not our property in the distance. And the forestry mower can't do anything over 4" diameter. So there is still some work for us to do out there cutting the stuff that was too big or too close to a tree or water. My idea of gardening.

Quilting at Studio 3 tonight.

Sitting Pretty

I've finished the Sitting Pretty quilt made as part of my 1930's Bin Bust. I don't find the green sashing and cornerstones completely offensive. I am still not really keen on the quilt though. Someday I hope to quilt it up and be surprised at how lovely a quilt it is and how the quilting really enhances the image.

But first I am on to other things I am sure to enjoy more. The sashing and  Union Square blocks are all together. I used 4 1/2" strips for the sashing without cornerstones. I thought it would be a very fitting treatment for blocks made with my 1800's scraps since blocks were frequently sashed that way back then.

 Now I am auditioning triangles for a pieced border. The triangles I am showing are from my scrap box. I am only using them to see if I want to use this size. They work for me so I will plan to work on the pieced border at Studio 3. I think I will be able to get all the triangles I need from the same box of scraps I  took over there a few months ago.The same fabrics used in the blocks. Sometimes it seems it doesn't take much fabric to make a quilt.

Tonight I am prepping another quilt of mine for the longarm. That means choosing the quilting design and any preliminary marking and then pinning and rolling it on the poles. Actually I just have the border left to decide on. Before I am done with that one I hope to have the quilting for the next one planned and ready to go.

We have had some nice winter weather this week so I took a few hikes. I'm glad for the wintertime cause to me it means quilting time. In warm weather I have a hard time balancing my quilting time with my outside time. Sometimes the days seem so short. Does that mean in the end I will feel like life is too short?

Shuffling projects

I've been merrily chiseling away at my stash of 1930's reproduction fabrics. Cutting a little here, sewing some there.  I even put aside the Civil War bin bust at Studio 3. For a while. Now I am in the middle of several projects. 

Today I worked on these blocks at Studio 3. Then when I got home I dug around for more fabric to make even more blocks.  I couldn't find all I was looking for till I remembered the small collection of authentic 30's scraps I have. I found 6 pieces that I can use. No pink in this project.

Yesterday the gals I quilt with were stressing out over life so we didn't get together. We  expect things to be back to normal next week. Tuesday Lucrecia wanted to get together before she leaves for the rest of winter. So together we worked on some blocks for a Square-in-a-Square comfort quilt.

Monday I went to the Burlington Quilt guild meeting to here a program by Carol Butzke on the use of Cheddar Orange in antique quilts. She brought some fabulous old examples. I am not sure that I am "flamboyant" enough to use that vivid orange as a background color in a quilt, but those quilts are sure goregous. A bonus to the evening was running into an old friend there. She has recently retired and joined the group. We are going to have to get together to do some sewing or maybe even some quilting.

I've been shuffling projects back and forth between home and studio 3. There are some steps I'd just rather do without distraction and sometimes I want my bigger flannel wall. I still have a picture or two more to take of stuff I've done recently, but the wall is still busy! So you can see, I survived the holidays and I am too busy quilting to even notice that it is winter.

Just not a Favorite

I have made 9 Sitting Pretty blocks and even though I think they are pretty, I just don't like the blocks in these fabrics enough to make anymore. This size works for me. I think I will add a 3-piece sashing and call it done.

I've been cutting away at my 30's fabrics for over a week. I have planned 5 quits in all. I may not have enough fabric to border things the way I might like but I will worry about that later. I haven't cut into all of it yet so I can tweak my selection as I actually piece the top. I thought I might be tired of these fabrics by now but I am not. Maybe it really depends on the pattern cause I like all the others I started, especially the one I showed last. I will plan to sew a few of them right away the others will
just be kits waiting for next fall I guess.

I took a break from all that cutting last night and got another comfort quilt quilted. We are expecting a light snowfall overnight and already I got a call from a few of the gals cancelling. That is only disappointing cause that means we aren't using up that old stash. In a dream the other night I won the lottery and one of the first things I did was toss that old stuff and replace with new. Kinda surprised that I didn't dream that I hired gals to get the old fabric sewn into some warm comfort quilts. I know a few ladies in particular that would join us if we had a better selection.  Oh well. I can dream, can't I?

Continuing a Tradition

No doubt about it. 2014 was a good year for me. At first I wasn't too impressed when I reviewed my quilting accomplishments till I remembered I also self-published a new book. As you can imagine, a book is a major undertaking, but the work doesn't stop once it is published. Work continues with promoting it.  I am pleased with the response it has received in some areas and as usual I am baffled by how different it can be from one area to the next. In other words, some shops won't even look at it cause they can't figure it out by looking at the quilts (Or so they have told me) and others have sold several dozen. Go Figure. I'd be happy to entertain your suggestions for promoting it.


I am still plugging away at cutting up my 1930's bin. I decided on the pattern I will do using the
2 1/2" strips. Since my design wall is busy at the moment, I arranged a few pieces on my ironing board in half a dozen different ways and decided on this pattern.  I am sure I saw it somewhere before. It is actually 2 blocks and 2 blocks in reverse. It will be easier to see once I cut and sew some background, but this is enough to remind me what I am planning on.

 In between all that cutting I quilted a few comfort quilts with a lazy meander and finally added the border to my first Studio 3 Sampler. I didn't find anything suitable for an inner border and if I had I would have had to add cornerstones to the borders cause It was a tight fit. As it was I had to redo two seams in the borders cause the 1/2" seams used up the extra 3/4" I needed in length.

I hope everyone is looking forward to this new year. I hope to continue quilting and blogging and working on the brush in the woods and planting more native wildflowers and  everything else I enjoy. It would be great if we met at your guild or a quilt show. Sharing our quilting with each other is important no matter how we do it.