Playing with Projects and a Flimsy

Well, I finally have a "first finish"!  This quilt top is now a flimsy. This is the Rail Fence pattern from Sujata Shah's book "Cultural Fusion Quilts".

Rail Fence quilt
56 inches square

I started this quilt way back in April of 2016.   You can read about it here.  This project got put on the back burner a few times since 2016, but I finally decided it's time was now and got it put together.  The i-sew-lation is at least good for getting some projects done.  I am very happy to get it to this stage.

one block to show you the fabrics, but each block is different.

It took me quite a while to decide what fabric I wanted to use for this quilt.  I finally decided on the indigo prints (shweshew) from DaGama Fabrics in South Africa because I love indigo and I love blue & white quilts too. I collected these fabrics over a span of time (maybe 10 years?).  I bought a few of them at a time at Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara every year.  I lived about 10 miles from where the Festival is held, so it was a yearly trip with my friends. ( I sure miss going).  The fabrics were fun to collect and to use.

 I used both the 3 Cats and 3 Leopards lines for the indigos and I used 1800's reproduction prints for the whites.  Quite the cultural fusion, eh?  I think I used up most all of my Da Gama fabrics making this.  You can see the logo that is printed on the backs of the fabrics in the pictures below.  There is also some of the fabric print showing, so you can see how different it is.

#1

#2

#3
This one is almost reversible!

#4

I made sure I got these photos because there wasn't any other way to preserve the logo otherwise, since I had to cut the fabric.  And I think it's pretty cool.

in process on the "design floor"

This quilt was a little math challenge for me, as the DaGama fabrics are only 35 inches wide, not 42.  I had to do math and shrink the blocks to 14 inches instead of 16 inches.  But it worked out really well!

There is lots of ways to lay out these blocks, but I didn't even play with them.  I knew this was the layout that appealed to me for these colors.  Maybe another time I'd do a different layout.  I'm so happy to finally have this done!  Now I need to decide if I'm quilting it myself or sending it out to the LA quilter.

This is what 50 pounds of flour looks like!  We were never able to find any flour in the grocery stores, because of the pandemic panic buying and hoarding, so we ended up ordering the flour directly from King Arthur Flour.  My husband has made almost all of the bread we use for the last 2 years, as well as hot dog and hamburger buns, biscuits etc.  Finding yeast was another adventure.  But now we're set for a while! Yay!

I was in the mood for finishing some things after I cleaned up the quilt studio and found a bunch of half-done projects. So, this was some blocks from an exchange I was in.  These blocks are so pastel they don't fit color-wise with the other blocks, so I decided they needed to be a table runner.  The 3 blocks made it just the right size.  I can't tell you how long this was waiting to be put together.  Kinda silly, right? My working theory is that no project is done before it's time - it needs to age properly!  Like a fine wine.

12 inch Urban Chicken blocks

Rather then basting and quilting the baby quilts that I'm supposed to working on, I started working on another project that I had been stalling on.  As in, I had the pattern and some fabric pieces were cut.  But I was inspired when I saw someone's quilt they were working on, and decided no time like the present for working on this.  Maybe it's my quarantine quilt?

Anywho, these are Urban Chicken blocks.  I fell in love with this pattern when the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild used this block for the Block of the Month one time.  Here is the pattern from Cath at Wombat Quilts.  It's a very easy block to make and fun for using up scraps.  Cath shows this quilt done in a couple of different color schemes here and here, and I like them both.  I haven't decided if I'm using a limited color scheme (blues, greens and maybe purple) or if I'm going to go with rainbow colors.  I think rainbow, as I've wanted to do a rainbow quilt for a few years now.  Anyway, these 12 inch blocks are a lot of fun to make.  The chicken "beaks" are done with a wonky improv process and are so easy to do.  So easy that mine aren't being quite as wonky as I'd like them to be!  I have decided that the blue block needed more contrast in it.  It reads all the same color.  Lesson learned, I hope!

When I was trying to photo the blocks, the Quilt Inspector (Shade) came to see if he approved them.

Here he's complaining at me that they're not snuggle-worthy yet.

I think he got over it!  Now he's just being a little grumpy. 

Here is what I call the Washington state flower, as there are millions and trillions of these around here.  Whole pastures just full of them!  

And I found, when I wandered around the yard, that my trilliums are blooming and starting to spread!   The deer don't come through our yard anymore due to a new house and fence in the neighborhood and I miss seeing them but the trillium are happy about that.  The deer were nibbling them down to nothing. Sadly, they're also not eating the ivy that wants to take over everything on one side of our yard. Oh well.  I had never seen trillium before we moved to the Pacific Northwest.

It's been almost 70 days that we've been staying home.  Well, I have. My husband and my son keep going to the store for necessities, and I'm so glad they're going.  They both say that those trips are pretty stressful, even though most everyone is being so careful to do the social distance thing.  I had to take my son to the dentist last week, but it wasn't bad.  They were doing emergency appointments only, so the waiting room was empty.  I had to go get a blood draw yesterday and it was also empty.  And I wear my mask all the time I'm out.  For Mother's Day we all went for a drive.  I was getting antsy and ready to see something else.  So we just drove around in the country and never stopped anywhere.  It was a nice trip, but it was surprising how many people were out at the river!  Because we were having our first heat wave of the year.  

Then DH and I had to go for a drive the other night.  The battery in my car pooped out (after sitting in the driveway for 2 months!) and after 2 days of not starting very well (but still sitting in the driveway), we went for another drive to get it charged up good.  So another nice diversion that was a no-contact trip.  It's helping me to not be too antsy.  I miss going to guild meetings and seeing my friends!  

How are you doing?  Are you going out?  Are you wearing a mask?  I was so glad for the mask yesterday because the cottonwood trees are now spewing their "cotton" everywhere and it really aggravates my allergies.  Having the mask on really helps with the allergies.  Who knew?

That's all the news for now.  I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

Happy quilting!

Better Late Than Never?

I've had the flu for most of the month of February and haven't felt well enough to do any sewing to speak of.  The flu has just sapped me of any energy or ambition, and I'm having a hard time getting back to normal.  I go into my quilt studio and just sit and look at everything I want to do or should be doing.  The Dr. said it takes 2 weeks to recover from 1 week of being sick.  So I should feel better in about 2 months.  I sure hope it's sooner!  There are quilts to sew!

So, since I have so little to share with you, I thought I would share my quilt photos from the retreat I went to last October. This is late, but I thought it would be fun to share the photos anyway.

I went down to the S. F. Bay Area in California, where I used to live, to see my quilting friends who have a retreat 2 times a year.   I went early and got to spend a couple of extra days with my bestie Kate.  We checked into the hotel and set up the sewing machines and iron.  We had a suite and it was such a pleasure, and a great place to sew!  We also ate out and had such good food!  I was starved for some real Chinese food and we ordered so much that we had it for lunches for a few days.  It was heavenly!

I wanted to make the Interlock Quilt by Amy Friend of duringquiettime.com.  It takes a jelly roll, but I was making it for my son.  His favorite color is green, anywhere from olive to lime, and I have lots of green fabrics, so I cut my own jelly roll.  You can see Shade was helping me pick out some of the greens to use.

Cutting my own jelly roll ended up being harder than I thought it would!  After while, the rotary cutter was really hurting my wrist (that I sprained badly a few years ago).  Then I remembered that I have a Martelli cutter that is more ergonomic.  It really saved my wrist to use that! I've switched to using the Martelli cutter full-time now.

Anyway, I got all the blocks made at retreat, but saved them to do the layout at home.  I wanted my son to decide on the layout, since it will be his quilt.  This is where I'm at now:

So, it's all ready to sew together when I feel well enough to do it.  I hope to able to do it soon!

Kate decided that she wanted to make the same pattern.

She used a jelly roll of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  How striking is that blue background?!  It looks so different from my calm, quiet colors!

After we got those quilts sorted, we went to work on the Jelly Strip Stash Buster pattern, a free tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew.  It uses 2 1/2 inch strips, or Jelly Roll leftovers.

I've got the blocks sewn together into a flimsy.  I don't have a photo of them put together, but you get the idea here.  I used strips from my 2 1/2 inch strip drawer.  The unifying element is that each block has a blue strip in it.  I stretched the boundaries of what is "blue" in some of these!  This will be a comfort/charity quilt.

This is a fun, very easy pattern!  You get two blocks for every two strips you use, so it goes pretty quickly.  I'd like to try it in some other color combinations too.

Kate also did this pattern and used a stripe in every one of her blocks.  Isn't this snazzy?  She was making this for her grandson's bunk bed.

This is Berta's quilt that she made while on a cruise.  I loved this pattern!  Sorry, I can't get the picture right side up.

Berta used extra blocks on the back of her quilt for a 2-sided quilt.  If you click on this photo to "biggify" it, you can see the quilting design.  I really like it!  It looks like rain drops in puddles to me.

Jeanne took the same cruise and this is her version of the quilt.  I love the yellow in with all those greys.

And this is the binding on Jeanne's quilt.  I love that little pop of yellow on the edge!  And she had some great low-volumes in there too.

This is a Jelly Roll Race quilt that just really makes me happy.  Love all those black and white prints and the red is such a great accent!

A sweet charity quilt that everyone contributed blocks to.

This quilt is a Nine Patch Swap, tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Everyone made blocks for this charity quilt also.

I'm going to end with a couple of other quilts, but unfortunately I don't remember who made them.  They're so pretty that I want to include them, even if I can't give credit to the maker.

Redwork embroidered Santas.

I don't know the name of this pattern but its so pretty in those batiks.

I hope I'll get to feeling better very soon.  I have so many projects to work on.  First up are some baby quilts!

Happy Leap Day to everyone tomorrow!  And happy quilting!

Oh my stars! It's another flimsy finish!

I've been sewing my little fingers to the bone, trying to finish quilts for the quilt show.  And I have another finish to share with you!  Remember these?

Here is where they live now:

My Lucky Stars

Presenting "My Lucky Stars"!  The little sneak peek stars are the cornerstones in the sashing on another Block Lotto win.  (The colors in this photo aren't true to life.  That is red in the quilt, not the hot pink that's it looks like on my computer screen.)  These are the Tall Stars that I won back in August 2013.

blocks on the floor

Here is where I started, with my initial layout of 48 blocks.  The block was an adaptation of Bonnie Hunter's Maverick Stars, except that it was made in a rectangular size, using red for the background.  You could do a scrappy background, with one fabric for the star, or one fabric for the background with a scrappy star.  These were so fun to make!  If you want to try one, here is a link to the info on Block Lotto.  I got the idea of putting the stars together like this from Joe Tulips.  Thanks, Julie!

darkest & lightest blocks side-by-side

I decided on a dark to light layout, but I'm not sure you can tell from the photos.  It runs diagonally across the quilt, with the darkest block in the bottom left corner and the lightest block in the top right corner in the photo at the top of the post. I tried to find a red solid that worked with all of the scrappy reds in the blocks.  I was kind of surprised when I compared the darkest block to the lightest block.  That red center square, which is the red solid I found, looks like 2 different colors in these two blocks!  Isn't that interesting?

After I got the center assembled, The Potter suggested I add some triangles that echo the star legs in the blocks into the border.  I thought that sounded good, so I proceeded to make a bunch of them.  I really wasn't quite sure what I was doing when I started.  I seem to flail about for a while before I figure out what I'm doing, but I eventually got into the swing of it.  The only downside was the absolute mess I made in the quilt studio.  I have red scraps and bits of fabric everywhere!  I ended up using all of that red solid except for one strip about 6 inches (the width of the border) by 12 inches.  Whew!  That was close!

Here is one of those little cornerstones from the sneak peek.

In one cornerstone, I decided to do something different, and made one big wonky star.

Some of those crazy triangles in the border.

Anybody recognize the blocks you made?

This quilt has gone to the quilter now, and I'm so excited to see this one done.  

The next quilt is on the design wall.  I've gotten my Traveling Round Robin blocks back, and that quilt is on it's way to being completed.  I hoping to get to flimsy stage over the weekend.

As most of you know, Washington is having a horrible, record-setting fire season this year.  Most of the fires are in Eastern Wash. and I live in Western Wash.  This was what the sunrise looked like last Sunday morning.  That is a smoky sky!  It stayed that way all day.  It smelled strongly of smoke, and we had ash falling on the cars.  I can only imagine, if it was that bad here, how bad was it where there are the fires?  My heart goes out to all that are affected by the fires, and I applaud all the firefighters doing so much to stop those fires.  We're all praying for some rain.  It looks like our prayers may be answered this weekend.  I just hope some of the rain makes it over the Cascades to the eastern part of the state.  

Cheery O's!

Sorry I've been so quiet around here lately.  I have been busy though.  I've had a busy summer, and I've been madly sewing to have a quilt or three to hang in the quilt show in October.

Cheery O's has achieved flimsy status!

Cheery O's
60 x 74 inches

These were the 'Big O' blocks I won from Block Lotto in December of last year (2014).  We were supposed to use black or another very dark color for the background and the bright fabrics were quilter's choice - whatever we wanted.  These blocks were a lot of fun to make, and very easy.

The pattern is actually one quarter of a circle, and you need 4 blocks to make a complete circle, which finishes at 14 inches.  So making the quilt goes pretty quickly!

I made a few more blocks to complete the rainbow color scheme I was doing, and the unused blocks will be on the back.

I dug into my scrap bins for all the blocks that I made.  I didn't even make a dent!

I decided that I needed to make some smaller O's to go in the corners, so I drafted the block out.  The quarter squares finish at 3 1/2 inches and the complete circle measures 7 inches.  And even though they were small, they were still easy to make.

I made some more blocks to finish the ends of the middle row.  If you enlarge the photo, you can see the black on black print I used for the border.  I found that at Fabric Depot in Portland, Oregon.

Shade doing his inspection

The top is currently at my long-armer Shari's, waiting to get quilted.  I can't wait to see how she quilts this.  I left it up to her, and I know she'll do a great job.

"It looks good, Mom."
Note his excellent cat hair addition.

I think this block has a lot of possibilities, and would like to play with it some more in the future.  Thanks, Sophie, for a fun pattern!   Here is the link to the pattern, if you'd like to play with it too.

Now I'm working on another Block Lotto win.  Ready to add the borders this week.  Here's a sneak peek:

I hope you have a creative week!