Sketching on Sue

Judy of Patchwork Times has chosen #4 as the UFO for September, but I have several still unfinished choices from previous months, some this close to finishes.  One of them is Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient.   After thread sketching the edges of all the applique, I wanted to try adding some detail to the background with hanging Chinese lanterns.  My sister suggested I draw them on white paper and preview my ideas that way.  Clever girl. 

First try. I liked the number of lanterns and one peeking out from behind Sue, but they were too small and crowded all on the one side.

Try #2.  While I liked the shape of the single lantern, I felt it needed to be larger, maybe hang lower, and seemed too attention grabbing.

Try #3.  Balancing the two smaller lanterns on the opposite corner looked better to me, though I would likely flip the image in the left upper corner to peek out behind Sue's hat.  Some further adjustments to the scale and details of the Chinese lanterns will be made.  I discussed using the thread sketching as quilting with my sister, but we agreed that it would put too much emphasis on the lanterns and not on Sue, so I'll sketch them only on the background fabric.  There will be some free-motion practice sessions to accomplish the kind of detail the lanterns deserve before attempting on the real thing.  I'll still have to find a backing, sandwich and quilt, then bind this little quilt, but Sue deserves a finish after lingering in limbo all these years!

Sewing Room Orts

While I continue attaching the too-boring-to-show borders for Cross Reference, here are some other things going on around in the sewing room. 

In a sweatshop weekend  I completed two charity quilts for Guild last weekend. This Houndstooth top I actually made myself, and lo and behold it came back to me to be quilted and bound.  Sigh.

Fortunately I didn't have to make the backing or cut the batting--that was done by other volunteers. 

 

I meant for the Guild label to be in the right lower corner but it refused.  I quilted this with randomly wavy lines and hope it looks intentional enough. I ran out of bobbin thread twice and barely had enough on the spool to sew on the binding.  Gah.

This one was made of donated blocks that some other members sewed up, with the backing too.  I added some colorful leftover binding to add interest to the solid binding fabric with the kitted top.  Glad to have those saved lengths used up. 

While not technically modern, it is bright and cheerful and should please someone.  Simple straight line quilting for this one.  I did manage to get the label where I wanted it, but it refused to be straight.  After all that stitching, the organization contacted never responded so the two quilts went to the Philanthropy coordinator to be handed out later.  Well, they are off my list, anyway!

As usually happens while one is looking for something else, in the Hoosier cabinet I came across a bunch of bonus HSTs from the Picnic quilt. 

Above is the original layout idea, but I couldn't help playing some more. 

I squared the HSTs to 1.75 " and played switcheroo.  The upper right is one I made probably two years ago and shows how much they shrink when sewn--to about 5.5".  I'm really loving the Broken Dishes one on the lower left.  No idea when I'll be stitching them together but it was fun to play with little pieces.

Sue Goes to the Orient had a little more work done.  I bravely threaded my machine with black thread and thread sketched around the applique pieces.  Good thing they were fairly unfussy shapes, except for the shoes.

It's a pretty forgiving technique and one it would be fun to explore more. I'd like to thread sketch a couple of Chinese hanging lanterns in the background to continue the theme and add a little more detail to the scene.   I have a few ideas saved on Pinterest and am considering that as part of the quilting.

Meanwhile Sue remains a UFO until I add that detail, choose a backing and get her quilted. She's not going to languish in the box, though, I have promised her. 

Judy of Patchwork times chose the UFO for August as #8, which on my list is another of the Houndstooth charity quilts in a different colorway.  It has been in Time Out since I used the wrong sized squares to make the striped blocks.  I have to figure out how incorporate additional fabrics I already selected and assemble the alternate blocks.  Dragging my feet on that job, obviously.

The event of the decade arrives Monday with the Total Solar Eclipse, which will only be a dimming here on the SoCalif coast.  Perhaps I'll have time to look up from my computer and see it out the window, though they are predicting our usual morning low clouds and fog could obscure it.  No matter, I haven't got the special glasses anyway!  

Back to those boring borders....

Sunbunnet Sue Almost in Time Out

Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient was almost stuffed back in her box for a time out last night.  It wasn't really her fault, though, it was MATH.  I carefully cut the the center appliqued portion to size for my border panels.  Alarms began to ring when I needed to ease excess while attaching the top border section.  That looked horrible.  I then tried taking up a small amount of the block HST seam allowances in the bottom border section.  Even worse looking!   Finally I took the sections apart and remeasured.  Merde--no seam allowance on the width of the applique center.  Sigh.

Brainstorming, I decided to add a coping strip, and chose black fabric after auditioning the green and orange. The MATH for this twisted my late-night brain.  I had to rip out the coping strip on one side THREE times and recut a new strip eventually, but finally saved Sue from the time out box, where she surely would have remained for an eon. 

I'm quite fond of the coping strips, now that they have been beaten into submission. Sue almost looks like she is in a doorway.  If I were more artistic, I could sketch in a scene behind her.  I'll ponder that idea while I choose a backing and quilting design. Only a couple more days of the month to get this finished for the UFO Challenge.

UFO of the Month Progress--Sunbonnet Sue

Yesterday I set about tracing and finalizing colors for the small applique project, Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient, June's July's UFO  (oops, went back in time!)

Lots of little parts.  Hmm, I'm not that great of an appliquer, but I'll press on.

The background is a piece of white linen blend fabric.  I fussy cut the sleeves from another oriental print on hand.  I like it.  The hair needs a little adjustment as it is not even on both sides (#tinypieces).  Since I love green, I first chose that color for her toes, but decided to bring in some of the pink that makes up the HSTs that will surround Sue. 

At first I thought the pink print was too distracting, but with the HSTs around her, the pink toes stand out less.

I used a scrap of muslin for her face and hands.  Sue will barely squeak into my frame of HSTs.  I'm pleased with the project so far.  Preparing for curse words when it comes to stitching...or maybe I will skip that entirely and just fuse her in place for this wallhanging.

The pattern comes from this vintage 2005Quick Quilts magazine.  Okay, I'm off to get the iron heated up before I have to pick up and take my 98 year old MIL to the eye doctor.  Wish me luck and patience with both!

UFO Challenge 2017 update for July

Judy of Patchwork Times UFO Challenge Update: The UFO pick of June on my list was sending a quilt out for quilting, which I can check off the list as I sent out two and can't wait to get them back!  One has matching binding already made and the other I think I will seam together the many lengths of leftover binding I've saved, as it is a very scrappy quilt, and HUGE at 95x103.  

Judy chose the UFO of July as #12.  On my list, that is my Cocoa Baskets Quilt, which is at flimsy stage.  However, I am going to switch numbers, as there are quilts I want to complete this month to enter in our County Fair.  

#2 on my list is Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient, a wall hanging.  I have some panels of long-ago made HSTs of Asian/Japanese prints to surround a center opening.   

Sue's applique pattern comes from an old quilting magazine issue from 2006. I'm having trouble deciding on fabrics, naturally.  The magazine's model had an orange hat, which I like and will duplicate.  I have solid black for Sue's hair and pants.  The magazine's model had two colors of pink for the blouse, but I like green and will have to search the stash and scrap bins for a lighter one to coordinate with the above option.  Or choose something else that catches my eye! 

The magazine pattern had no instructions for assembly other than to either cut the applique pieces with or without seam allowance!  I'll machine applique and use a fusible.  I really like the cover quilt with all those stripes and plaids--its a pattern by Gyleen Fitzgerald, probably best known for her Pineapple Trash to Treasure quilts.   

Cutting, Posing, Stitching

While I've been away from blogging for the past week plus, I've been busy.  First I finished cutting up all the batiks with my Accuquilt GO cutter.  Grandson Cove helped me with one pass  :)  This is for the Beach Cottage project (Scrap Basket Surprises book) and that means the last of four UFO boxes are all prepped and ready to stitch at last--with a sigh of relief they are moved one step closer to becoming quilts someday.  I can cross off another from the 2017 UFO Challenge list, yay!

The four color groups will hopefully have enough variety in hue to make sharp looking blocks.

A closer look at the dark browns.  My Central Coast Quilt Shop Hop purchases make up a good portion of those pictured. 

As for the posing part, my friend Toni sent a few shots of our Shop Hop goodbye photo that her husband took.

This is me grimacing after my sister trampled my toe causing me to pull my foot right out of my sandal, and Toni laughing at her husband taking photos of us while we were arguing about it! 

That's better.  The Cotton Boll in Morro Bay is right along Highway 101 and has a great ocean view from the front; our pose was taken 'round the back.

The weekend included a lot of stitching.  At our Modern Guild we had a Scrap Box Swap and the deadline for the finished quilted project was looming.  I had previously sorted, pondered and re-sorted the mostly scrap strips I received, but hadn't hit upon an idea I liked until I saw this quilt on the blog A Quilter's Table.   I thought it just right for my partner Judy's scraps.  Our swap rules allowed adding fabric and I chose black and white prints from the inspiration quilt, and set about sewing random-width strips into chunks. 

The narrower blocks were trimmed to 6 inches wide.  There was a lot of cutting and sewing to get everything fitted together.  However, it seemed there were still so many scraps left and the quilt needed a backing.  I added some solid gray and was lucky to find leftover black binding in my bin that was just the right length for this small quilt. 

The disparate scraps made the quilt two sided.  (My binding is not really wavy, I think the spray basted layers made the quilt stiff.)

 Straight line quilting randomly spaced and the black binding finished it off. 

I included one row of a different stitch in the quilting just for fun. My swap partner immediately recognized where I took the inspiration, as Debbie of A Quilter's Tale is a blog friend of hers.  How about that?  It was a fun reveal at guild as many members had joined in.  I don't have a photo yet of the wonderful little quilt I received from my partner.  

There was a lot more cutting, stitching and posing for the Bonnie Hunter workshop I attended, but I'll save that for the next post.

June UFO Challenge pick #7

Judy of Patchwork Times chose #7 for June's UFO project.  On my list, I'm choosing a UFO to send out to be quilted.  There are four quilt tops currently hanging in my closet that need to be quilted, two of which I will quilt myself.  The others are just too big for my small harped Husqvarna Lily.  The oldest--and largest--is an oversized version of Bonnie Hunter's Rick Rack Nines. 

Years ago I was in a Yahoo Group called Quiltbiddies and we did a lot of block swaps.  These 9 patches were made with 3.5" squares so the blocks are pretty big.  I loved Bonnie's zig zag setting and used her free setting triangle chart for the tan solid. I'm thinking a Baptist Fan would be nice for the traditional scrappy fabrics and colors.

I ended up having to make a few half blocks for the top and bottom of the quilt as some of the swap blocks were not usable or I didn't care for the colors.  This top is 92x105 and will cover our CalKing bed.  I purchased a 108" wide backing at Road to California, so will need to add leaders to the top and bottom, at a minimum, and find a quilter with a long arm large enough.  Speaking of Bonnie Hunter, who used to also be a member of Quiltbiddies long before I joined, she is coming to a local quilt guild this month and I snagged an open spot for her My Blue Heaven workshop.  There is a lot of cutting to do before then but I am really looking forward to it.  It was a "Biddie" who led me to Bonnie's Quiltville blog in 2009--before then I had never heard of quilting blogs.  It wasn't long until I started my own blog, and here I am all these years later.

The other quilt is also constructed of 9 patch swap blocks in reproduction fabrics; these are 6" finished.  There were so many swappers that we each received about 80 blocks.  This is the third project I made from my cache, which I'm calling Cheddar and Cinnamon, and it is 72" square.

The pattern is from a Thimbleberries book and is called Nine Patch Criss Cross.  I altered the square in square blocks using two colors to make stars appear around the nine patches.  I tried to emphasize the stars by placing red nine patches with the Cinnamon star points, and green nine patches with the Cheddar star points.  Squint a little...

Can you see them now?  I'm thinking this quilt will need some custom quilting to bring out the stars and minimize the background fabric.  A backing and even the binding has already been made.  Perhaps I will send them both out!

Design Wall Monday--UFO update

On my Design Surface are the final two boxes from this month's UFO pick by Patchwork Times.  I pulled the box of 30s fabrics collected and pondered several options from the Scrap Basket books.  It all came down to the length of background fabric I had, plus wanting to use as many fabrics as I could. 

Except for the lower three fabrics, these are fat eighth cuts from a pack I purchased many years ago, probably at a quilt show, and are from a line called Everything but the Kitchen Sink.  I added a few more fabrics along the way, including the vintage red and white print at the bottom. 

 

I chose Summer Breeze from Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett.  Once again, my AccuQuilt GO cutter came in handy to cut a lot of pieces quickly.  

Here are the pinwheel and pieced block pieces all cut and ready to go.  I cut many more strips for the pieced borders but will wait until the center is done to balance out the colors with all the different fabrics.  This will be fun to work with later this year, all the happy prints and colors.  Only one more day of the month, and one more box to cut for!

Another slow build of fabrics for Beach Cottage, also from Scrap Basket Surprises.  These batiks will be so pretty together, I think.  It was especially hard to find the right light green batiks that did not have other colors.  I'll pair the brown with the light green, and purple with the tan.

Since Judy of Patchwork Times decided to stop Design Wall Monday posts, another Judy has taken this over, and I will be linking up for the first time with this post.  See lots of other great quilting on her Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog HERE.  

UFO of the Month Progress and Acquisitions

Well, the cutting table didn't stay pristine for long, as the #11 UFO pick of the month on my list is to make progress on four projects in boxes, by cutting all the pieces.  I had hoped for one per week and am running behind a little. 

Jewels in the Curio (Moda Bake Shop pattern) fabrics got laid out yesterday and I did a bunch of cutting with my GO cutter.  These strips were then subcut to pattern directions.  I added many from stash to get a good mix, particularly since the Civil War Homefront jelly roll had NO greens--my fave color.  The last time I used a jelly roll was maybe 8 years ago, I remember it was called Sanctuary.

All the cut pieces were labeled and are back in the box.  It was all I could do NOT to start sewing with all these yummy reproduction fabrics now!  The remaining two boxes are batiks and 30's fabrics, which will both be patterns from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Sensations.  The GO cutter will be getting a workout.  I'm really getting a variety of fabrics to play with this month :)

Recent acquisitions from Connecting Threads were these fabrics to make Twilight Hopscotch from Kim Diehl's Simple Comfort lap quilts book.  I've wanted to make this quilt for years.

I don't think I have ever made a two color quilt before and am looking forward to it.  These prints are from the Oh My Darling line.  The "Kitchen Twine" print is the name of neutral, so sweet. 

Also from Connecting Threads were coordinating prints to add to the Sliced Cake project --and more of the main print fabric as I miscut.  All of these were on clearance.

The Macrame line is from Cotton + Steel.  Love it.  My daughters and I recently took a macrame class from a friend of hers who teaches them locally.  It was really a fun mother-daughter night. I used to do a lot of macrame when I was a teen--the last time it was popular!

Our house is being turned upside down as next week we are finally replacing our well worn 26 year old carpeting, long past due to be torn out.  For our office we have chosen a vinyl plank floor which will be much better under the rolling chairs.  My sewing room will also get new carpet, so the cutting table will come down, of course, along with all the furniture.  It is a lot of work and bother but will be so worth it to end the embarrassing carpet.   I plan to do some minor adjustments to my sewing room furniture  arrangement when all is complete.  Hope my arms hold out for all this moving here and there!

Design Wall Monday--5/8/17

On my design surface today is the Patchwork Times UFO Challenge pick for May, #11.  I am cutting pieces from four different project boxes for this UFO, one per week this month.  Box #1 is done!

Here are all the fabrics for the top of the quilt.  The pattern is a Darlene Zimmerman design that came in an advertisement from APQ mag.  Very simple strips and squares for a small lap quilt.  Backing will be constructed from the leftover fat quarters and yardage.  I'll look forward to pulling this out to sew later in the year. 

The next box I chose was Jewels in the Curio.  This is a Moda Bakeshop pattern by Jo Kramer  of Jo's Country Junction blog.  She and her daughter have designed a lot of patterns for scrappy quilts and are devoted Bonnie Hunter fans. 

My parents bought me the Civil War Homefront jelly roll years ago and I have petted and cherished it but now it needs to be in a quilt.  Charm squares and strips from stash will add variety.  I plan to make this quilt the pattern's size, but my neutral will be scrappy. 

Here are a few pulled so far.  I have another one yard piece to add and will probably throw in a few more as I cut, depending on how far these go.  I will use my Accuquilt GO cutter for the 2.5" strips called for.  The pattern's  block is Jewel Box and I made a quilt a few years ago that I gave to my then boss when he closed his practice.  I love the barn raising setting; mine was offset for my boss.  His daughter claimed it almost immediately, he told me :) One of the pictures I posted early in the layout design process for that quilt has been pinned hundreds of times on Pinterest, but it wasn't the barn raising one!  I'll look forward to stitching this up later in the year. 

See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Cutting and Stitching

Judy of Patchwork Times chose #11 for the UFO Challenge project of the month.  On my list that is Projects in Boxes, collected fabrics and patterns that have languished unfinished in boxes for years.  I chose four boxes and my plan is to work on one a week, prepping and cutting all the fabrics for blocks and sashing, etc, for future piecing.  This week's box is full of Aussie fabrics I bought on my wonderful vacation in 2009 visiting my friend Sue in Port Douglas, Queensland, "where the rainforest meets the reef", to attend her wedding at their home. 

These were precut 6" squares purchased at a patchwork shop in Cairns.  We visited a couple of shops there and I bought fat quarters and some 1/3 yard cuts (or whatever the metric equivalent is!).

Love this one with native Australian fauna and Uluru rock.  The pattern I'm using has 4" squares with 2" sashing and cornerstones so I'll have a great deal of cutting to do.  When I was removing this box from my Hoosier cabinet, a stitchery kit was on top of the box which I don't think I've shown before. 

Designer Lolita Newman of Stitchin by the River was vending at the Camarillo Quilt Guild show last fall and my sister and I were taken by her simple stitcheries that were very evocative, depicting Black history such as slave quarters, Black Civil War soldiers, and other memorable scenes that she researches and sketches. Not being a stitcher, my sister  Kathy bought me this pattern to stitch for her, and I purchased the muslin at the Road to California show (being too lazy to make my own tea dyed muslin!).  I'll look forward to tracing and stitching the Slave Quarters design and making a mini quilt.  My photo is poor but here is a link to her Etsy shop.

I'm off to press and cut...
 

Design Wall Monday--UFO #5 update

On this Design Wall Monday, I thought I might actually have a finished quilt to show by end of April, but alas, I do not.  I'm going to blame that on Squirrels that easily distracted me from the basting and quilting portion of the month's UFO pick by Patchwork Times.  On my list #5 is the Medallion Star Rescue quilt, a relic from the early 1990s that got passed on to me a few years ago.    I chopped off parts and added pieced borders to bring it back to life.

Finally basted on Saturday, and started quilting Sunday.  No way it was getting finished by deadline, but still I'm pleased that it is no longer stuck in a box.

The center star is all quilted.  There is a bit of tenting at the very middle which may require some extra stitching to tame, but there is plenty of quilting left to do.  I also cut binding and will have to be clever with adding more fabric to make it around this lap quilt. 

See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday--Progress plus Another Squirrel

On this DWM, I'm still getting sucked into projects I didn't mean to start, simply in the process of cleaning my sewing room!    I had some leftovers from the Cross My Heart runner from last post, so stitched them up quickly into this small runner or table mat (from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Beauties book). Squirrel!

There is another pile of leftover squares still on the cutting table, so they may turn into borders or another mini quilt, we shall see :) 

 I sewed up the Twilight Hopscotch block (Kim Diehl's Simple Comfort's Lap Quilts book).  I really want to make the whole quilt now, and will be ordering from Connecting Threads' Oh My Darling Line.  I tried to order fabric but the website was not cooperating with me on Saturday. 

Then another project jumped out from the cutting table, from a 10" square stack also from Connecting Threads.  I saw a pattern called Sliced Cake  HERE and pulled fabrics from my stash with plans to make a mini version of this pattern, for a baby quilt. 

Unfortunately I had a miscut accident and won't have three pieces of one set I was cutting :( .  There will be some shopping to add to this bin and quilt project as my stash lacked any appropriate yellow, turquoise blue or mint green to pull.  

Saturday it was beautiful out and I set up a tray with hand stitching supplies for finishing up the doll quilt for the Humble Quilts Swap.

Though I had to wear a visor and move my chair around the patio table to stay in the shade as the sun moved, I really enjoyed watching the birds, planes, palm trees, and butterflies as I stitched down the binding and added hand quilting.  On this end of town there is a tiny post office--which is very inconviently closed at lunchtime--so I have to wait until my morning off to send it on its way East.  

What is NOT getting worked on is the UFO pick of the month.  I made the backing the first weekend the number was picked but am stalled at the usual stage, basting and quilting.   

A friend called all the other projects I've been doing instead "Procraftination".  Love that!

See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.