Rainbows On A Cloudy Day

Yay!  I have finally finished and am able to post my project that I started back in March of 2017, in a class (the last class!) with Gwen Marston.  You can see where I started this project on this post.  

I actually had this finished for the guild quilt show at the end of September, but this is the first it's been posted anywhere.  It's so difficult to get a decent photo here - it's usually so dark and gloomy.

Rainbows On A Cloudy Day
37" x 45"
Hung sideways at the quilt show

That's why I call this quilt "Rainbows On A Cloudy Day".  It's cloudy here, more often than not.  I've also never seen so many rainbows as here in the Northwest - more than I've ever seen anywhere else I've lived.  No matter how many times I see a rainbow, they are always magical!  

I actually picked out the colors for this before I'd decided what pattern to use.  That was my sister's suggestion, as I had no idea where to start for something for this class.  I was a little intimidated to use only solid fabrics!  

So I decided to break out of my usual color palette and try something a little different.  I picked what seemed to me like kind of tropical colors.  The grey background came about because I was using a grey wall at the workshop to pin up my blocks on, and I really liked how the dark set off those colors.

You can see here that I used a little bit of the raw edge "fluff" on a few of my middle squares.  Just something fun and different to do.  I probably could have used more.  Oh well.

And I like Gwen's idea of letting the colors "bleed" from one area to another.  I think that makes the blocks a little more interesting.  I also randomly changed colors in a number of the rounds in the blocks - again, just something fun and interesting.  

And for the back, I used a piece of fabric that had been given to me.  It was just the right size!

I quilted this in a hurry, to be done in time for the quilt show.  But I think it came out OK in spite of that. Those not-real-straight straight lines do take some time to quilt!  And then I decided, for something a little out of the ordinary, to have the quilting lines turn the corner in the border.  The quilt crinkled up pretty well and I haven't even washed it yet.  

This ended up being a little too big for the space I had in mind, so it doesn't have a home to hang in yet.  I'm still thinking of where to put it so I can enjoy it.

On a personal note, the MRI I had last Wednesday told me that I have a broken ankle!  It's a very difficult-to-see incomplete fracture.  I now am using crutches and have a boot to wear to support the ankle.  I see the Orthopedic doctor next week.  And actually the ankle feels better than it has since the accident.  Some of that is staying off of it, like I'm supposed to, and some it is ?  Maybe healing?  That would be nice!  It will be interesting to hear what the doctor has to say.  I'm not enjoying the crutches, and I'm not really enjoying the forced inactivity either.  I want to go sew!  I keep telling myself to be patient.  Wish me luck with that!  Hee hee!

AHIQ and Random Stuff

It's time for the monthly Ad Hoc Improv Quilt challenge link-up and I'll be linking up with Kaja at Sew Slowly.  I missed last month as I was in Las Vegas, and I don't have a lot to show this time, but I will share what I do have.

I was inspired, around Valentine's Day, to make some wonky hearts!  A "squirrel" project.  You know what  I mean.... an-out-of-the-blue, wild-hair hankering to make some little hearts.  I decided to go with bright solids with text and low-volume prints.  I do so love that combo!  Well, I'm a little rusty at making wonky hearts and the first two hearts didn't quite make the cut, but I kept going and the hearts  have improved.  I'm starting with 5 inch squares of the solid color and when I'm done, I'll cut all the hearts down to a common size.  I think.  I have no plan for these, I'm just playing and having fun!  I used Lazy Gal Tonya's tutorial for the wonky hearts.  You can see it here.

The other improv project was also hearts!  I made some blocks for the Block Lotto drawing in January.  Improv "slabs" were the basis for the hearts. The pattern is here. They're not the most improv-looking, to me.  If I were to make more, I think I'd get a little crazier.  *grin*  Sadly, I didn't win the Lotto, but I had fun making the heart blocks.

and even more hearts!

DS and I were going to bake Valentine's Day cookies, but as we were preheating the oven, we heard some strange noises coming from it.  The electric element was on fire!  It was like arc welding going on in there!  Yikes!!  I turned off the oven, but the fire was kept going.  So, not knowing what else to do, I called 911.  The nice firemen came and unplugged the oven/stove and told me not to use it!  Fortunately the cookie dough was still in the fridge, so we didn't lose it. Not having the stove top or the oven made making meals a little challenging until the repairman got there.  We went out to dinner a couple of times and BBQ'ed and microwaved.

In the end, we got a new element installed in the oven and we finally got our cookies baked about 10 days late.  Better late than never... and they were still yummy!

These Japanese X and Plus blocks were the January Block of the Month for the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild.  We used this tutorial at Christine's Color Connection blog.  They were easy and they came out the right size with no problems!  You can see the finished quilt here.  (That committee is some fast sewists!)

Boy blocks

And these string blocks were the February BOM.  For these blocks we used the Scrappy Strings tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew.  We adapted the pattern by using a few more strips than called for to end up with 10 inch blocks.

Girl blocks

Most of our Blocks of the Month go to the charity quilt committee to be made into quilts to give away.  This month the call was for blocks for kids' quilts in particular.  I think these came out so cute!

My other quilt guild makes quilts for a local hospital's babies.  Most of them are small to be used for preemies and also early demise - the  little ones that don't make it.  This is one I made from hand-me-down scraps.  I've gotten it quilted and found a fabric for the binding....now I just have to do it!   Hopefully by the guild meeting on Friday.

Remember this one?  I started this in January 2015 and it was meant to be a long term project.  You can see the beginnings here.  I've had the blocks done for a while (see them here) and I'm finally starting to sew them together.  Two rows done!  Moving right along....    I want to have this finished for the quilt show in September, so I can't stall too long on this.  But I have a 3 day workshop coming up the middle of this month and that has me kind of distracted. 

Another scrap project.....some badly needed new hot pads.  I even used scrap/leftover bindings.

And, my giggle for the week, a Star Wars Tie-Fighter Tie!  I love it!

Tomorrow I'm going to Sew Expo with some friends.  That will be fun!  I haven't gone for a few years.  It's so massive that it's sometimes hard to find what I want, but I have fun looking. It's not as big as Pacific International Quilt Festival that I used to go to in California, but still big enough to do some damage.  $$$!  Let the shopping begin!

One Done, Three Begun

Done!  
18.5 x 25 inches

I finally got this little preemie quilt quilted and done.  It's now ready to give away.  Yay!  Even a small finish is still a finish.

I did a very simple straight-line quilting job on it, and used some soft, sweet baby flannel on the back. 

#1 Begun

I've gotten more baskets done since I got home from my class with Gwen.  Still have at least another 4 to do, then I need to figure out what I want to do with them.  I'm not sure which part of that will be more fun.  *grin*

As I promised in my last post, here are my goodies I got at the Quilted Strait in Port Gamble.  An 8 inch square frame for some needlework I did, a purple with cats fat quarter (by Laurel Burch), some great labels fabric and some cute fabric to trim kitchen towels with.

Look at the cute selvage on the flower fabric!  It's ladybugs!

Here are two fat quarters that I received from the owner of the Quilted Strait.  These are the new made-in-America solids.  She gave everyone in the class two fat quarters, as she had just gotten the fabrics in stock.  They seem very nice, from what I can tell without undoing the cool folding job.

#2 Begun

A few weeks ago, I taught some of the ladies in my guild how to do Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips pattern.  The class was very successful - everyone got at least one block done and they all looked great!  But, it involved starting a new quilt!  I decided to use some of my polka dot fabrics.  Wow, I had a lot more than I had realized!  So, these were some samples to show the various layouts you can do.  Since I have a LOT of dots, I'm not sure how big this quilt will be.  As big as it needs to be to include as many dots as possible, I guess.  *laughs*

A few weeks ago, I found these blocks.  Can you guess what decade they're from??*  My friends in my very first quilting bee made these blocks for me.  Since I was the baby of the group, most of these ladies have now passed away.  I don't really care much for these colors anymore, but I do care that my friends made these for me.  I decided to keep them and see what I could do with them.  But I think they're kind of boring.  *yawn*

So, I tossed them up on the design wall to see what I could do.

#3 Begun

So, I've made 3 more blocks to bring the count up to 12.  And I tried to incorporate a little more contrast in the blocks I've made.  I know the block in the bottom left is a "humility" block.  I "fixed" that boo-boo THREE times, and it's still wrong, so it's staying!  Even though it bugs me.  Resisting. . . .

Now, I'm trying to decide what I want to do next.  These are 14 inch blocks, so I don't want to add much more size to this.  The Thinking Cap has gone on and I'm cogitating now.  Hopefully something will occur to me soon!   I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but I don't have many fabrics in these dusty blue colors anymore, and I want to up the contrast on the whole thing as well.  I'd like to have this one done for the quilt show in October, so I know I can't dawdle too long.  And I also don't want this to be boring and predictable.  So, that's the challenge I've given myself.  *gulp*  I hope that's not biting off more than I can chew.  I'll be keeping you posted as I hopefully make progress.

* These are the dusty blues from the 1980's.  Waaay out of style and favor!

Happy Scraps Revealed

I'm finally getting around to posting the photos of my finished quilt.  I really meant to do this sooner, but you know how life can get in the way.  I was so busy last week that I didn't know if I was coming or going!  

Happy Scraps
60.5" x 79.5"

So, finally, here is my crumb quilt "Happy Scraps" for it's official photo.

And here is the back of the quilt.  I think I over-estimated how much backing I needed because most of the third strip of the log cabin on each side has been trimmed off.  But better than too small!  I'm still not real enamored of this backing.  I love the panel I used in the middle but I wish I had used dark fabric all the way around it.  Oh well - Finished is better than Perfect!

Here is a block that shows off the quilting in the sashing that Shari, my long-arm quilter, did.  She used a multi-colored thread, which I love.

Of course Corvettes and rubber duckies go together!  *grin*

And here is the border quilting and the binding.  The border fabric has every color except blue.  There's a lot of the light blue/turquoise in the quilt, so that's the color I picked for the binding.  I usually prefer a dark binding on my quilts, but this just seemed right for this quilt.

So, now I'm picking out fabrics and packing my gear for my class with Gwen Marston on Small Quilts this Saturday.  I'm so excited about this class I can hardly stand it!  Nifty Quilts and Buffy of Rebels blog are going to be there too!  Whoo hoo!  I'll see you next week with a report on the class..

This, That and The Other

I had three quilt guild meetings last week!  We have both a day group and a night group in one guild, and I ended up going to both meetings.  The night group was Monday night, and that's when we received the pattern and instructions for the blocks we need to make for our raffle quilt for this year.  The pattern was this scrappy 8 inch star, and the directions were for earth tones.  If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know I almost never do earth tones!  I had to look for some examples in some quilt books to help me out a little.  You'll notice I actually do own plenty of the earth tones. 

We need to make at least 2 blocks each, so I wanted to get these done for the day meeting on Friday.  It took hours to cut all these pieces!  I was trying to not have both blocks exactly the same.  I used scraps, as much as I could.  I mean, that's why I have them, right? I'm happy with the blocks - I think they came out pretty good for someone that really doesn't do earth tones.

For Mother's Day, Dear D-I-L treated all three of us (her, me and her Mom) to pedicures.  That was a treat - my very first pedicure!  It won't be my last. LOL  My toes are the purple with the polka dots.  They make me smile every time I see them.

I finally got my liberated log cabins quilt top pin-basted and I've started the quilting.  I'm maybe 1/4 of the way done with the dense quilting.  But now I'm stalled because I've run out of thread.  Rats!  Off to the quilt store in the morning for more thread.

You can see better how far I got on the quilting in this picture.  Well, except for Hamlet sitting on the quilt!  When I stopped for dinner and lack of thread, I brought the quilt downstairs so everyone could admire what I have so far. Hamlet decided to jump the gun and do some premature quilt inspection!  I want to have this done by the weekend.  So, you know what I'll be doing this week!  Wish me luck.

Charmed, I'm Sure

I finally got my issues resolved and can now post.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I think it was more "operator headspace" than anything else.  Another "Duh!" moment.

Anyway, I can finally share what I was working on last week.  My two granddaughters were coming for their first sleepover here on Saturday, so I decided it was time to finish the quilt tops I started for them a couple of years ago.  You can see that post here. 


Strawberry Lemonade
40 in by 49 in

I used two different charm packs from Moda, using two matching charm packs per quilt top, and putting the squares together randomly.  And then some yardage for the borders.  I also made matching pillowcases.  Very easy, and no stress.  The quilts aren't very big, and the girls have grown since I sewed the tops!  But they still fit, so far. 

Dunkel always has to "help" with the photo shoot.

Much better, now he's all covered up in the quilt.  He actually stayed there for about 3 hours.

A better closeup to see the quilting design in both the middle of the quilt and the border. I did all of this quilting with the walking foot.

Blue flannel on the back . . . nice and cuddly!



Spring Meadow
40 in by 48 in

 I actually had 2 pieces of  "leftover" pieces of batting in my stash that were pretty darn close to the right size, and didn't have to cut into big pieces of batting, or buy anything new.  That made me happy.

I decided to just do the same design on this one too.  Easy-peasy.

But I did free-motion on this border.  It's not very good, but it's finished, and that's the best thing.  I'm not real happy with how I did, but I'm not going to rip it out either.  Maybe someday I'll get better at this.

This one has purple flannel on the back . . . more cuddles.

Both girls loved their quilts, and the sleepover was a great success. 

What was fun (and funny) was that both girls wanted to do some sewing while they were here.  The oldest one even brought her own sparkly purple fabric!  We made a pillowcase for her small travel pillow on Saturday afternoon.  Sunday morning they both wanted to do more sewing, so we made pillows for their stuffed toys.  More of the sparkly purple got used, and some pink fabric (of course!) for the youngest girl.  I forgot to get any pictures, unfortunately.  They were both pleased with their projects, which made me happy!  I'm hoping next time to have them do some of the sewing themselves.  I think they're old enough to (carefully) use the machine.

Being a grandma can sure be a lot of fun! 

Quilting....

Well, progress is being made! I got the color challenge top together after much auditioning. I think I stress too much over the balance of things. I was trying to spread out the floral stars so they weren't clumped in one spot. I decided that one star wasn't working, and made another one. I tried some things with the borders. Finally, got everything decided and started putting it all together. The actual construction went pretty quickly. . . faster than the decisions!

I decided to piece the backing, using up the left-over fabric. That took some time. It's like putting a puzzle together. My DH thinks I'm crazy. Maybe he's right?? But I used the two stars that didn't work for the front, and also incorporated a label. This post on La Vie en Rosie blog inspired me to do that.

Time to pin-baste. I stalled some over that too. But it wasn't bad at all. I did it on my kitchen counter, which is actually a peninsula. I can walk around 3 sides of it, and drape the quilt all over to reach the middle. And it's the right height to not strain my back. I put on some music, and it was done before I knew it! Sweet.

Last night after dinner, we went to the fabric store so I could purchase the right thread. That was fun. I was very restrained, due to having DH with me! I bought two spools of thread, and some fusible for another project. We also bought some denim so I can make DH a new pottery apron. The one he's using is pretty shot. We had priced an apron at the pottery supply store, and the price they wanted was outrageous! Something like $24! We bought enough fabric for $4.99 and I already have a pattern and thread. Am I cheap? I like to think I'm thrifty! But now, of course, I do have to do the work of making the thing. AFTER the challenge quilt is done.

Then we went to the Dollar Tree, and spent too much money on stuff. I never did find the one thing I went in there for. After that, I had to go to Borders as I had a 25% coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I found a book on folk art applique that intrigues me - not that I do applique exactly. I'll share that with you another time. That was our Friday night. Pretty exciting, huh?

I'm finding that I really am not that drawn to most quilt books anymore. I find I get my "pretty pictures" fix from the Internet now. And I'm not likely to need a pattern anymore. Kind of takes the fun out of the quilt books/magazines. So, I'm saving some money there that I can spend on more fabric! (not that I need that either!)

So, today I got down to the actual quilting. . . . eventually. That was a process too. I had to watch my Patsy Thompson DVD for inspiration. I had to find more batting and make a practice swatch to warm up. I was also trying to get some laundry done. Then I had to clean off the desk so I wasn't "dusting" with the quilt. I oiled the machine, wound bobbins, got myself all set up. . .music, fan, drink, cat/supervisor.

Finally, I started quilting. I straight-line quilted all the chains. Easy-peasy. Humming along.

Then I got stuck.

I can't decide how I want to quilt the rest of it. I outlined the two stars in the corners, and decided that I wouldn't be doing that on all of the stars. What a pain - remember, these are 4 inch stars. Way too much quilt wrestling! Especially considering that it was 84 degrees today! I also tried some straight lines in the background of the border, and ended up ripping that out. That's not the look I want either. So, I did more free-motion on my practice swatch and used that all up. I wasn't happy with the F-M either. I'm rusty, and it shows.

So, I'm taking a break. I need to make another practice swatch. And maybe tomorrow will go better. At least the weather will be cooperating. . . it's supposed to be a high in the low 70's and rainy. Sounds perfect to me! At least for quilt wrestling!

Thursday, we had an invasion. You can see the thundering herd here. I'm not sure why they did this. Maybe they saw us on the deck and were hoping for food. This the first time they've done this this summer. Eventually they swarmed the huckleberry bush, which has berries on it. I've even seen the robins going into the bush too, even though they usually ground feed. (Just not at the same time as the duck herd.)

And look! Two little baby ducks came along! Sorry these pictures are fuzzy - those ducks were moving fast!

Here's a fuzzy yet closer picture of the two babies, thanks to my DH. Don't they look like they have blue beaks? They had a hard time getting to the berries on the bush, and no one was sharing.

And here's a better photo. The flower in the foreground is lavender - it really brings out the color in his/her beak, doesn't it? I never would have guessed that their beaks would be that color. I don't think the adult ducks have that. Or are these mutant ducklings?? Whatever - he's really cute! You should have seen when he stretched out his little stubby wings - so cute.

So, that's it for around here. Stayed tuned for further whining about the quilting. . .maybe it will be all over next time you visit!