Back In The Saddle, I Hope

Hey Ho!  I will try to do this blogging thing again.  I fell off the "blog/horse" last year and have been having trouble getting back to it again.  Mostly because I really wasn't doing much that was blog-worthy.  At least I felt that way.  So, a new year, a new decade and hopefully I'll be a more successful blogger.

My broken ankle has healed up beautifully.  I'm able to do pretty much whatever I want now.  I am more careful about how I do things now though!

"Positive Vibes"
60" x 80"

I did finish my Plus Quilt in time for the quilt show.  I'm very happy with it.   And it was lots of fun to make.  It was a very easy pattern to do.  The hardest part was deciding how to set the blocks.  LOL
You can see more about the start and the process of this here and here.

Back of the quilt

I had Sue Bradbury of Pretty Threads Quilting quilt it with an all-over pattern and I really like the look of it.  You can really see the quilting design best on the back of the quilt.  I used something from my stash for the back.

I had three leftover blocks (because I can't count, I guess) and I set them in the back.

I love the way the V&Co. Ombre Dot fabrics change color across the quilt.  I set the colors in diagonal rows.

I used one strip of each of the seven colors I used for the binding.  I had just enough!

More photos, just because.  I just love those Ombre dots fabrics! 

And all of my low volume fabrics make me happy too.

I didn't do as much quilting as I would have liked this year.  I was lacking focus, I think.  But I did accomplish some things.  

The start of the 1st scarf

I re-learned how to knit!  I've learned about 6 times now (first time in High School Home Ed), and it never "stuck" for me.  But now that I've forgotten how to crochet, the knitting seems to be working for me.  Hee hee!  Between You Tube and my son who knits, I finally "got" it.  I'm not ready for anything too fancy yet - I tried and it didn't go well!

Finished Scarf!

I have finished one scarf and am now working on another, which is just straight knitting.  I was a little disappointed with my first, because I think the color blocking of the yarn is too large, but it's still warm and cozy. I used a free pattern called Little Checkerboard Scarf from Ravelry.  

 I do enjoy the process of knitting the best.  I wanted to knit to keep my hands busy while I watch TV, but I have to look at what I'm doing!  Hopefully the next scarf will finish a little more "artsy" since I'm using nicer yarn.  

I have more quilts and projects to share with you, but I'll save them for my next blog post.

Meanwhile, Happy Quilting!

Checking In

I'm finally letting myself start a new project, since I'm supposed to be off my foot.  It''s a project I've wanted to do for awhile, actually.  Last year on Instagram @stephjacobsondesigns had a Plus block quilt-along that I really wanted to do, but didn't have time for.  So, now is the time!  If you're interested, you can see more about this on Steph's blog here.

Here is the diagram of the Plus block I'll be doing.  This makes a 10"block, which makes math for the quilt really easy!  Always a "Plus" in my book!  Hee hee! One could use a jelly roll for this, but I'm working with half-yard pieces and cutting my own strips.

Here are the fabrics I'm using.  They are Ombre Confetti Metallic Dots by Moda, that I found on my trip to Missouri last year.  I fell in love with them, and have been searching for a pattern to use that would highlight the ombre aspect.

I'm using Low Volume fabrics in the backgrounds, as I love Low Volumes.  My Low Volume quilt is one of my favorites.  They're so perfect for a  more interesting background too and there is a lot of background in the Plus quilt.  I've collected a good-sized group of them over the years.  This is just some of what I'm using.  Right now I have a table set up in the living room and I'm just cutting fabrics.

the start

First block

Here is my first "practice" block.  I've learned to make a practice block before I get too far along, just to make sure everything is copacetic.  Doing that has saved me some grief over the years!    

I've got one more stack of fabrics to cut up and then I can start sewing!  Yay!  I can't wait, although to be truthful, I love cutting fabric.  I could do it all day.  I find there's something quite soothing about chopping up big pieces of fabric into small, usable pieces of fabric.

As you can see from this photo, the Orthopedic doctor has given me a cast.  This is my very first cast, although not my first broken bone.  The cast is made from fiberglass now, so much lighter than the old ones, I understand.   I''m not in any pain, just some discomfort.  And it's awkward.  And because I'm terrible at crutches and they're killing my arthritic hands, the doctor prescribed a knee scooter for me.  

I saw this on Facebook and it made me and my son giggle.  So when I got the knee scooter, my son promptly dubbed it the "Kneelie Wheelie".

My "Kneelie Wheelie"

This is a lifesaver!  I've gotten pretty good at getting around with this.  Unfortunately, we live in a 2 story house.  So, I go up and down the stairs on my bum, and generally do that only in the morning and at bedtime.  Upstairs I get to use the crutches, so I don't spend much time up there.  Our old kitty Shade, who won't come out of our bedroom because he's terrified of our son's dog, isn't too happy with that arrangement!  Poor baby.

So, in 4 weeks I get the cast off and get another Xray to see if the break is healed yet.  If not, then another cast for a couple more weeks.  I'm hoping and praying that 4 weeks will be enough!   In the meantime, I hope to make some progress with my new project!

AHIQ Linkup Plus More!

Last year about this time, Debbie of A Quilter's Table blog hosted a quilt-along, mostly on Instagram, doing the Crosscut Quilt.  I had just gotten the prompt for my local guild's yearly challenge, which was "Get Creative With Black".  There were no rules for this challenge other than a minimum size of 24" x 24".  So, I decided that it would be fun to play along, using black fabrics for the background.  Maybe not the most creative way to use black, but I thought the quilt looked like it would fit the criteria.

I promptly ordered a good selection of what I'm calling "low volume black".  In other words, black with a subtle design on it.  And I thought it might be fun to use some of those fabrics I've hand-dyed and hand-marbled, so I used those for the inserts.  I love they way they look with the black fabrics!

Crosscut beginning

I decided to make my quilt a little bigger than what Debbie was doing with the Quilt-Along and what the Challenge size minimum was, just in case the quilt shrunk up too much with quilting to end up at 24" x 24".  This was my start.  Each black square is cut at 9 1/2 inches and the X's (inserts) are cut at 1 inch.  Then the *magic* happens!  *grin*  And that's the fun part.  You'll have to go look at the tutorial on A Quilter's Table if you want to know how to make your own.   It's an easy introduction to Improv quilting.  And a lot of fun too!

The Value of X
24 " x 30"

I got the top made in pretty short order, and then put it aside because 1. I had a year to finish and 2. I couldn't decide how I wanted to quilt it.  So, along comes June this year (my deadline was early July) and it was still sitting there waiting to get quilted.  Yikes! Time to make a decision!  I hemmed and hawed for a little bit, then finally realized that, since I've always admired the quilts I've seen on blogs, IG & Pinterest that have quilted spirals, I really wanted to do a spiral on this quilt.  I thought the spiral would be a good contrast with the geometricality (yes, that is a word now - I just made it up, maybe) of the piecing.  I was a little intimidated, but went for it anyway.  

I had kind of a rough start, perhaps because I started in such a small circle.  I traced around a spool of thread.  It was hard to see the line with the walking foot because it was such a tight fit with such a small circle.  But once I got a few rounds done, it was much easier.  It was actually kind of fun!  And I love the way it came out!

You can see the quilting really well on the back of the piece.  I used up some older stash fabric on the back, including one my mom gave me years ago.

Can you see the two skulls by the arrows?
Can you find the other skulls in this photo?

When I was quilting, I decided to add a few accent lines of a blue/purple thread.  They don't really show much, but I found out that this particular fabric not only has some dots in metallic but some of those dots are actually little skulls!   What a fun discovery!  I have a small quiltlet I made with the leftovers that still needs to be quilted, so you'll see that later.

I had so much fun with this pattern that I made placemats for myself which you can see here.  And now I want to do this pattern again, maybe on a slightly larger scale.

I'm linking up with Ad Hoc Improv Quilting linkup today.  Go check out all the other bloggers giving Improv a go.  There's some good stuff to see!

my 1st Raspberry Kiss block
4 1/4 inches

The Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild was having a "white elephant" exchange at the meeting last week.  I remembered from last year that these are actually pretty awesome handmade items, so I knew I had to rise to the challenge.  The theme this year was "Make It Modern".

I've been wanting to make some Raspberry Kiss blocks that I saw on Pinterest, so I thought now was as good a time as any.  

I changed my mind about what project these blocks were going into many times during the process.  But then it jelled and became a pouch!

Inside of the pouch

Blogger won't let me place this photo where I want it, so you get to see this first!

the "cool" side

the "warm" side

I love this so much!  But now it lives with Roxanne.  I'm planning on doing something more with the Raspberry Kiss block for myself!

Here is the "white elephant" that I came home from the meeting with....a beautiful pillow made by Leigh Ann.  I love it and it has pride of place on my living room couch.  It looks so summery and it makes me smile.  I love these colors!

Here is my newest addition to my collection of sewing machines.  A 1950 Singer 221 Featherweight! (the same age as I am!)  I received this wonderful gift from my friend Judy.  She taught me how to oil and grease her up and now she's ready for me to play with.  I've been wanting a Featherweight for a while now because I've heard (and seen) what a wonderful straight stitch they make.  I'm so excited to own this!  Now I have to go shopping for some fun (and some not-so-fun-but-necessary) accessories for her.

Happy quilting!

9 Years!

This week is my blogiversary, and I've blabbing on here since 2008 - 9 years!  Hard to believe it's been so long.  I love blogging, even though I've been letting my blog languish for a while.  I love meeting so many people all over the world and all the friends I've made through blogging.  I also love visiting others' blogs to see what they're up to and for eye candy and inspiration.  And I especially love all of you that visit my blog and I love all your comments too.  Thank you!  It means a lot to me.

This was a gift from my Tacoma MQG secret pal, Melissa, back in November.  I'm beyond thrilled with this!  Melissa used the Geometric Sewing Machine pattern from Quiet Play with some yummy Essex linen in the Pouch with a View pattern by Three Owls Handmade.   Roxanne did the wonderful embroidery of my Instagram name.  A huge Thank You to both of them!

This is the flip side of the pouch, with some wonderful fabric in there, and Melissa's cute label.  (Sorry for the glare off the plastic see-thru window)  I'm already using this to take the Block of the Month blocks to the MQG meetings, and it works like a charm.  

I don't think I ever showed you the zip pouch I made for my secret pal.

I used my favorite Open Wide Pouch by Noodlehead for this.  I love how wide the pouch really does open, so you can find all your stuff.  I hope she's enjoying it!

And then I made some snack bags for my granddaughters for their lunch or dance snacks.  I learned about and acquired some PUL fabric while on retreat in California, (I got mine at Joann's) and I thought it was a neat idea.  I just kind of made up my own simple pattern for the bags.  

1 large and 1 small for each girl

The end of January, DH and I went to Las Vegas for his company's Professional Development event, so the wives get to play.  I had a lot of fun, although I didn't really do a lot.  And no, I never win any money.  I don't play the machines much, because I hate losing money.  I'd rather have it to spend on fabric!

I did enjoy seeing the Statue of Liberty at the Hershey's store at New York New York.  This is made completely out of red vines licorice!  And it's about 7 foot tall!

Sunday about 1 pm

We had a snow storm on Super Bowl Sunday.  We didn't think much of it when it started, but it turned into a major event!

The is out the kitchen window, at about 1 pm.  I love the little snow caps the hydrangea gets!

Here's the gargoyle Monday morning.  Hard to see, isn't he? *grin*

And here's my poor hydrangea on Monday morning.

This is out the quilt studio window Sunday night.  That's DH's car.  He had to leave at 4 am Monday morning for a business trip.  He made it!  He actually made it to the airport but then had to wait for the pilots to get there!  Now, he's enjoying the 80 degree weather in Texas.

And this is Monday morning.  Those tracks are from DH trying to get to his car.  We ended up getting about a foot or more of snow.  We've never seen so much snow in 10 years here!  As a matter of fact, that snow was so wet and heavy that our RV cover completely collapsed!  We don't have an RV, we just inherited the cover.  So now we'll have to find some other place to store the lawn mower, etc. - after we dig it out!

Since we don't own a snow shovel, and I don't have snow boots, I'm still house-bound.  Our neighborhood doesn't get plowed, and the street is very treacherous.  I don't need to go anywhere, fortunately, so I'm happy at home.  It's starting to rain today, but the snow isn't disappearing very fast.  I was hoping to get out tomorrow, but I'm not sure that's going to happen either.  It will be an adventure getting the garbage cans out today for pickup tomorrow!

Since I got sick in November, I'm having trouble getting back to normal or getting motivated to sew, other than the odd block here and there.  My quilt studio is pretty much a messy disaster.  So, while trying to put some of the piles of fabric away, and realizing that my shelves were too full to get said fabric in there, I decided that I'd go through my stash and get rid of some fabric that I'm not interested in any more.  So, this is half the fabric that I have in bookcases, all nicely folded and sorted.

And this is the other half.  I wrap my fabric around my 6" by 24" ruler, and it fits very nicely.  The bookcases are Billy from IKEA.  I've got regular quilting cottons, some flannels and some odds and ends in here.  This is not all of my fabric - just the stuff that is 1/2 yard or more.  The smaller cuts and scraps are in bins and some armoires  in the room.  I haven't touched that stuff yet, but I will get to it.  I have too much fabric.  I know!  What a shocking statement!  But I have so much that I can't find what I want or even get to it.  I have stuff stacked all over the room and it's driving me crazy.  So, that is my mission this year.  And it may take me all year to get it done!

 I've gotten rid of about 4 bags (or more?  I lost count) of fabric.  Most of it will be donated to the Comfort Quilts stash for the local guild.  Or some of it I might donate to the guild "store" at the quilt show or sell there myself.  When I'm done with the fabric, I need to go through my books and magazines!  It's been 10 years since we moved into this house, and it's time to pretend that we're moving again, and go through all of the closets, drawers etc. all over the house.  Fun times!  Not.  *grin*  Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!

I've actually gotten some sewing done the last few days. (Yay for snow days!)  I'll be sure to share with you when there's something to show.

Happy quilting!

Quilts and Fabric and Hamlet

I've been trying to do this blog post for a week now.  Life has gotten in the way.  But I think I'm finally getting it done!

I have a rather random collection of things for this post.  I hope you'll bear with me.

First of all is my big news:

"Best of Division" ribbon

I won the top ribbon at the local county fair!  I was totally shocked!!  Also very happy!  I had a goofy grin on my face all day after I found out.  Those of you who are my friends on Facebook have already learned about this, but I thought everybody else might want to know too.

This is the quilt that won, my "Mod 9-Patch: Comma Musings" that I've shown on the blog before.  

We had a rather small turnout this year in the quilts category as the fair turned out to be a little of a last-minute thing.  Our fair has been having problems for the last few years (the county no longer wants to run it), but a new group of local people have taken it over and we have high hopes for next year.

A couple of weeks ago I won a giveaway over on Stephanie's blog kwiltzbystephanie.  Last week my goodies arrived in the mail.  I won some fat quarters of text fabrics!  A big, big thank you, Stephanie!  I love them!

Some of these fat quarters are a very generous size (larger that a FQ).  And I have never seen these prints before either.  Fun, fun, FUN!

My DH recently made a business trip to Taiwan, and I asked him to bring me some traditional Taiwanese fabrics, if he could find some.  I was envisioning something like Japanese indigos.  Here is what he brought me:

He's made a number of trips to Taiwan and knows where "The Cotton Store" is in the fabric district.  So he headed there.  These fabrics were bought in another store that he was sent to, as The Cotton Store doesn't carry the traditional fabrics.  The sales clerk told him these were traditional, and when I did a Google search, this type of design is what came up.  DH says all the women wear dresses made of similar fabrics.  I think these are really fun!  I don't know what I'll be making with them, but I'm looking forward to working with them.  I got a meter of each.

Check out this selvage!  I can barely remember my history well enough to remember that Taiwan used to be called Formosa.  Wait, does that mean I'm showing my age??  *grin*

We had a sad happening here a couple of weeks ago.  My DS's sweet old kitty Hamlet had to be put to sleep.  He was about 15 years old, and was suffering greatly from diabetes and liver failure.  

Hamlet

Here is one of the last pictures of Hamlet, taken in our back yard about 2 weeks before his death.  I think my son got a beautiful picture of him.  Hamlet was the best kitty ever!  He had the sweetest temperament of any cat I've ever met,  and was just so calm and loving. Hamlet got along with everyone, whether they were people, cats, dogs, pet rats or even livestock. He taught my kitty Shade how to be a good housecat when we rescued Shade from the backyard, plus he helped raise another kitten later.  Hamlet was with my son throughout the 7 houses and 3 states that they lived in, and as long as he could be near my son, he was happy.  He will be sorely missed.

Hopefully my next post will not be such a long wait for you.  I've already got it planned . . . hopefully the execution will happen soon.  In the meantime, I hope you're having a great summer (or whatever season you're in), and getting to do some sewing.  Happy quilting!

Decisions, Decisions

I'm going to be participating in a couple of projects that my quilt guild is doing this year, so I've had to make some decisions lately.  It's been fun but also kind of painful.  I have a hard time making decisions about quilting projects because I can get all wrapped up in the possibilities and then can't narrow it down.  Silly me.  And the worst of it is that I drive myself crazy when I do this!

My Mystery Quilt fabics

The first project we're doing is a Mystery Quilt.  I decided to shop my stash for this one, but I had to look at lots of fabrics.  I needed three yards of background, and two yards each of a focus fabric and an accent fabric.  I don't usually buy big chunks of fabric, so not all of them were big enough for this project.  But, after going through my entire stash, pulling out anything that looked like it might be big enough, I finally found a focus fabric I liked AND had enough of!  I even had enough of the dragonfly print background fabric as well.  Both the wild print and the background fabrics have been in my stash for a few years.  I did have to buy the green fabric, but that wasn't a problem.  *grin*

The second project the guild will be doing this year is a Traveling Round Robin. This is a different Round Robin than is usually done.  How this Round Robin works is this:  I decide which fabrics I want my quilt made from, and put them all into a box or a bin with my name on it.   I then decide which 12 inch block I want to make for everyone's Round Robin quilt. Then I make a block in my chosen pattern, using my fabrics, which I also place in my box.  Then I pass my box/bin to the next person on the list, and I also receive a box from another person.  For each box that I receive, I will make the same block in "my" pattern using the fabrics that are in their box, then put the block I made in their box and pass it to the next person on the list.  I'll always pass and receive from the same two people throughout the Round Robin. (As an example,  I always pass to Julie and receive from Bonnie.)  After the Round Robin is all done, I'll have 15 12-inch blocks for a sampler quilt, all in different patterns but all in my fabrics.  Then I'll decide if I need to make more blocks (I might want 20 blocks), how I want to set them together and then finish the quilt.

My Traveling Round Robin fabrics

I went to my LQS and spent about 2 hours looking at fabrics.  Nothing really captured my attention.  At least, nothing I really wanted a quilt made from.  So then I went to Ben Franklin's and looked around.  The only focus fabric there that I loved, I've already bought!  (you can see the pillowcase I made from this fabric here.  You'll need to scroll down a little ways - it's the pillowcase on the right in the photo, with the orange cuff)  So that's what I went with.  I bought another 2 1/2 yards of the fabric (thinking of a possible border) and bought some companion fabric and a bunch of solids.

The next, hardest decision was which block to make??  I would love to do something free-pieced or improvisational, but I don't think it would be the same sort of style as everyone else will be doing, which, to my mind, is important when you're doing a sampler quilt.  I spent hours (days!) poring over quilt books, trying to decide what block to do.  I used up some older scraps to make sample blocks.

The first block I tried is called "Album" and I found it in Judy Hopkins' 501 Rotary Cut Blocks.  Nice enough, but not really "it".

Another block from the same book called "Irish Chain".  I didn't even finish sewing this one together after I decided I really didn't like that yellow fabric - it's thin and flimsy.  I wish I had switched the position of the lights and the darks.  I could just switch the yellow triangles out for the blue, but I don't care enough to spend the time to remake this block.  Again, I like this block but it's still not what I was hoping for.  

So, I really thought about what I would be doing with the block, and decided that I needed a block that could use multiple fabrics easily, as well as look complex without being too difficult to do.  We'll be passing our boxes twice a month in order to have the quilts finished in time for the quilt show in October - hopefully.  So, I thought that complex piecing would make it difficult for me to do the blocks in a timely manner.  That ruled out blocks with a lot of triangles.  I knew I just wouldn't be happy making those.  So I changed my parameters for this and looked in some other books.

not too bad for scraps, huh?

Here is the block I decided on.  It's a Sister's Choice variation and I found it in Kim Diehl's book Simple Charm.  I can use up to 11 fabrics per block, those triangles are really easy to do, I don't need to worry about cutting off the points of the triangles on the edge of the block, and it has easy cutting and assembly.  This will work for me!

Now all I have to do is make my block with my fabrics and I'm ready to pass it on to Julie.  I already have Bonnie's box and I need to make this block with her fabrics as well.

But first, I have to deal with the disaster that my quilt studio has become. Ugh.  No room to work or even walk, so it has become a priority now.  Hopefully that won't take too many days.

Happy quilting!