Busy scraps

 Busy week with appointments. Not much sewing going on here. 

But I quiltedhi Lois's red sashed log cabin variation.  Another that she made at Studio 3 last winter. I made crumb blocks with green sashing at the same time. We were tackling the pile of strings.

With each block she proclaimed. "This is so much fun!" I quilted it with meandering loops and flowers trying to keep it loose for the puffy batting. 

Then last night while on the phone with Lisa I finished one of her tops. It was abandoned probably early October when she had to start another quilt. This one is intended for me. I could quilt it before she sees it again. VERY FUN.

Lisa has become a regular quilting companion. I'll be over there again today. I hope to get the string blocks together today. It's beginning to warm up abit so I could walk over today. Yay.

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