Design Wall Monday--Catching Up

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Well, didn't mean to disappear for so many days!  I've been busy working on projects to enter into our County Fair. Only a couple more days before all entries need to be finalized online. 

I got all the quilting done on this large throw made from long-ago leftovers from another quilt. I abandoned something fancy for the purple/green blocks and kept it simple with a crosshatch. 

Our Nieces crocheted some adorable chickens--and stuffed them, embroidered the mouth and eyes, all while traveling from Riverside County in busy summer weekend traffic while their Dad drove.  I named mine Thimble and she is my new sewing room mascot.  I posed her on the doll quilt just quilted. 

I pulled several repro options before settling on the medium green print--the scale felt right.  I'll hand stitch the binding--it is too tiny to try to machine sew.  Another Fair entry project is nearly done. 

I did simple crosshatching every 2 inches for the quilting.  Sunday I made bias binding and had a heck of a time getting the last join done!  About five tries and ripping later, but finally ready to stitch down by machine, most likely. 

The simple lapped backing has recipes.  I'll end up with "okies and ingerbread" by the time the binding is on, haha. 

On my mind is the end of Picasa, which I have used all these years for the blog.  Google lets you make a copy of your album archive and save it to "Takeout", whatever that is!  Our computer is very old and I don't even know I can save the copy there or if I will have to store it somewhere else.  I only have three days left to solve this issue!  Google Photos is not like Picasa and there will be a learning curve.  If anyone has any helpful hints on this issue, I would be most happy to hear them!

Design Wall Monday--Christmas Vacation

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I hope all who celebrate the season had a lovely time with friends and family.  I got all the mug mats made for my co-workers in time to distribute at our holiday party.  

They were well received, no leftovers to take home!

The backs...As you can see, quilting was kept to a minimum, just the center square for most, but a few got some additional lines.  I am sure I'll make many more...maybe even one for myself, lol! 

Hallmark Mischievous Kitten ornaments on the tree.  The newest is the stripped tabby who knocked over the hedgehog planter.  Ridiculously cute!

The binding change on the poinsettia runner.  In the end, I just liked the striped fabric option more!  I did a narrow binding so it is not too overpowering. 

Refreshing the runner and cancelling out the old ill-made solid red binding makes me happy!

My Christmas Meadowland quilt got its plaid binding while I decided what to stitch in the plain squares and rectangles.  

There are a lot of white squares to quilt! I've decided to do peppermint swirl candy shapes in the white squares, and candy canes in the rectangles. I'll make a freezer paper templates for that job.  The quilt is 65" square, a good lap size. Meadowland pattern by Then Came June.  Off to the sewing room for my first day of vacation--I don't have to go back to work until next year :)

Design Wall Monday--Gingham Quilt Finish

Design Wall Monday--See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog--always great variety to enjoy there. 

The Buffalo Check Gingham quilt that has been layered and waiting to be quilted for a couple of weeks finally got its turn over the weekend.  Walking foot quilting all the way!

Ditch stitching along all sides of the pieced squares. 

I was pleased that my pieced-from-stash backing did not get skewed too much so the quilting looks straight. 

For the borders, I drew/scored lines from the corners every two squares and again used the walking foot to do the quilting. The spacing is not the same at the top and bottom, as the quilt is a rectangle, but I am not too fussed about it. 

The vintage gingham fabric made into bias binding turned out great. I trimmed the quilt first and added the binding to the back so I could stitch it down from the front by machine. I had the hardest time joining the bias ends before doing that part!  It took me about 20 minutes and multiple ripping, measuring, and trials to get it right.

I'm calling this a picnic sized quilt.  Happy to have another finish to check off on the long list of WIPs :)  The Buffalo Check kit I bought at Sewtopia Boston in 2018, and the border fabric came from my local  JoAnn's Fabrics.  

Vintage Fabric and Treasures

I have been meaning to get binding made for a quilt top that's been hanging around unfinished for some time.  I bought this vintage gingham piece I believe at the last local Guild show before the pandemic.  

I could tell it was vintage because it is actual woven gingham, is a full 45" wide, and has no selvage markings. Revisiting directions for cutting bias binding wasn't too tedious.  

The green gingham center was pieced by me from a kit I bought at Sewtopia Boston; that is not yardage!  I found the charming border at JoAnn's fabrics.  I think this will make a cute picnic quilt. 

Speaking of vintage, a quick trip through the local Goodwill Thrift Store today turned up some unusual finds. 

This vintage, rare dark red Bauer ringed bowl was on a cart and not yet shelved when I spotted it. 99cents!!!

It is not in perfect condition, it has a crack and the glazing is patchy there on the bottom, but it will be gorgeous as a display piece. I checked eBay for similar bowls and found one priced at $75.00!

A vintage souvenir also caught my eye on the Goodwill shelves.

An unopened souvenir from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was another "for pennies" purchase.  My parents and a cousin and I actually attended some Olympic rowing competitions locally at Lake Casitas in Ojai, in 1984.  I also have a poster from the 1984 Olympics.  

This hanger contraption came home with me.  I think it was 49 cents.  I'm wondering if it might work for hanging an embroidery piece, or I can choose from artwork I have. I had a great shopping day :)

Slow Sunday Stitching--More Christmas stitching

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more beauties on Kathy's Quilts blog. 

My main DMC kit cross-stitch project is perking along slowly this week due to a certain holiday coming up :)  I was able to get started on a new color, the light green of the cat's body.

I am looking forward to getting some more slow stitching time during the holidays. We have 12/24 and 12/31 off as our paid holidays due to the weekend dates, and are closing at noon on the Thursdays before.  So nice!

Other slow stitching did involve cross-stitch.  Many years ago when I worked as a medical historian and transcriptionist for an orthopedic group, I made stocking ornaments for most of the employees, that hung on the reception room Christmas Tree. 

This one was for one of the doctors, who passed away many years ago.  I loved the vintage Santa fabric and didn't have a stocking for Grant, so I made him one by unstitching the top of the stocking and embroidering his name on a new piece of Aida.  

I reused the satin cord as well.  The Dear Santa ornament I made years ago always makes me smile. 

Here's mine.  The kids all have one as well and I've made many more over the years as gifts :)

The final slow stitching this week was tacking down the binding on the secret Santa mat. 

There was quite a struggle to attach these leftover bias binding strips to this little mat, but I am always happy to get those used up. It looks a bit wonky in this pic!

Okay, off to wrap gifts and make a list for the Christmas Eve dishes I've volunteered to bring to our family dinner with the kids. So nice of Elaine and Chris to take it over!

Guild Projects

We had our first in-person guild meeting this month, and the call went out prior for turning in finished quilts for philanthropy.  I had two finished quilts taking up real estate on the cutting table, and two quilt tops ready to be sandwiched with batting I bought last month, after running out of the guild-provided batting with the others.  Now, that batting buy was an adventure.  I went to Walmart because the batting is fairly inexpensive there.  The fabric/notions department was deserted of staff in the mid-afternoon when I went.  I stood at the cutting counter for a bit, with the big bolt of batting; a staff member from another department came over to cut the yardage for me, but didn't know how to run the price tag printer.  Instead she found a scrap of paper and wrote down the SKU from the bolt and the price.  The cashier's reaction when I later brought up my items through the line and handed her the paper was pretty entertaining.  "WHAT is this?"  She rang it up after my explanation, shaking her head the whole time :) 

Anyway, I had two quilts with ready backings since February. Make the Connection, a free charity quilt pattern from APQ magazine using mini-charms, was quickly layered and machine quilted with my new favorite, fast wavy lines. My version used many fewer blocks than the pattern, but since it is block-based, adjustments are pretty simple. There are actually only two different blocks--they are just turned to make the stair-step effect.  Clever! 

I used a green Aurifil thread and the walking foot.  The leftover binding box turned up some striped bias binding that matched the solid green, and I cut more strips from the same fabric in the fat quarter drawers.  It took way longer than I imagined to sew all the short pieces together, so I was regretting my choice for a bit. 

The nighttime shot grays out the solid green.  Can you see where my binding stripes changed direction?  I could not figure out how I did that, but I liked it!

Pieced backing and quilting.  Nighttime photo so the colors are dull.  Anyway, I was able to turn in three donation quilts at the meeting.  One top is still awaiting quilting, as I ran out of time, but it is sandwiched and ready to go:  

This was our Round Robin guild challenge.  The blocks are 12" finished so I chose to quilt the smaller charity quilt and get it turned in first!  There is also another finished top and backing for a baby quilt to get sandwiched and finished before next meeting.  Hopefully we will have more attendees next month, though some folks joined the meeting through Zoom. It was good to get to visit in person. There were snacks--and I won one of the raffle prizes! The 2021 Quilter's Run starts next weekend.  Only one of the shops is close by--Cotton and Chocolate--but I may run to it!

Design Wall Monday--Dreamweaver progress.

Design Wall Monday starts a new month.  See more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

The Dreamweaver quilt top laid untouched all week on the cutting table; I was stalling on adding the "spokes" of the dreamweaver after making the bias tape last weekend (pattern by Jen Kingwell Designs).  Finally, late Saturday evening, it was time.  Just moving the quilt top to the sewing machine helped motivate me to keep going.  I stay stitched all the quilt patchwork edges and then played more with the spokes and leaf appliques I have made so far

It was fun to see all the great colors and prints on the background squares. I chose a light blue 40 wt thread from a collection that has been in the stash for a couple of years.  I think I won it at Sewtopia New Orleans, as I remember someone needing the light apricot spool to finish a project.

 Aurifil thread has such a great sheen.  These are smaller spools but the thread is fine.

My Husqvarna machine likes Aurifil thread, too.  The pattern instructions advised to leave openings for the bias strips, but since I was machine sewing and not hand sewing like the pattern, I first sewed the inside edge of the bias tape down with a tiny buttonhole stitch. 

Michelle McKillop's pattern cover photo of this quilt was my inspiration for the spoke placement.  Since the middle one was straight, it was easy to sew down.  Best choice for late night stitching!

Next morning the remaining spokes were measured, gently curved and pinned in place, buttonhole stitched, and then the outer edge of the medallion was closed.

My daughter-in-law was pleased with photos of the progress on her quilt.  About this time last year I was buying a lot of light prints on a shop hop with my sister for the background squares.  A lot more applique leaves and circles will be cut this week as time allows.  Happy with the progress at this point!

Weekend Sewing--Design Wall Monday

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It's been a quiet Memorial Day, I spent most of it in the sewing room doing a lot of cleanup.  The scrap drawers saw a lot of activity this past week when I was cutting for a Plaidish Quilt. 

The pattern is free on the Kitchen Table Quilting blog by Erica Jackman, with a tutorial here.    It uses more medium value fabrics than dark or light, which suits my stash well. She has introduced a second Plaidish 2  quilt just recently which utilizes a lot more light fabrics.  Lights seem to be hard to keep stocked in my sewing room!  I'm making a 6x8 version of her pattern, which is block-based so you can make it whatever size you like.  I'm looking forward to a lot of plaid piecing in my future.  

Meanwhile, in between Telehealth visits last week I assembled all the rows to the Cross My Heart tablerunner for my brother. The full size quilt is in Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Beauties book.  

I got a lot of exercise picking up and sewing all the rows and setting triangles.  Another task crossed off the list today was choosing backing fabrics for the runner. 

The cutting table got cleared of all the assorted scraps and strips that get thrown in a basket as I cut, fat quarters and larger scraps went to their drawers, and I stuffed more yardage in the groaning tubs under the table.  Good thing the only fabric related purchases I made recently had specific projects attached to them :)

Our son and daughter-in-law came over Saturday for a socially distant lunch they picked up; we sat at opposite ends of the 6 foot patio table, lol.  Our future grandson is poking out a bit more, only 3 months to go.  They had a virtual baby shower and DIL Ashley was very excited for a particular item we purchased from her registry--a baby-wipe warmer.  I wish such a thing had existed when our kids were babies! 

A friend gave her a nice rocking chair, which she repainted, but the cushion covers were quite worn and she asked me to make some new ones--the old ones are pictured on the table.  We are getting very excited about having a new baby in the family again.  Meanwhile, there was great progress on the Dreamweaver quilt I started for them a year ago when they got married (pattern by Jen Kingwell Designs).

I was finally able to pick up my Superbuzzy fabric order on Friday, after a week's wait, and made the bias tape from a 3/4 yd cut of Kona Jade fabric.  I only needed to make one join for the medallion.  After I took this pic I looked at the pattern again and realized the streamers were too wide and needed to be adjusted to 1/2" wide.  My version of the quilt is much larger than the original and I changed the disappearing 9 patch background to simple patchwork.  Many prepared applique leaves and circles will be fused and stitched along the streamers.  Lots more time needed to cross this off the list!

Design Wall Monday--Fair Entries

Off the Design Wall!  It was a sweatshop weekend trying to finish everything I wanted to enter into our County Fair, with the deadline of Sunday at 5:00 pm for turning in entries.  My main project was the Metro Twist baby/wall quilt.  I made the bias binding from a purple woodgrain print and rounded the corners using the Quick Curve Ruler, and even made a hanging sleeve.  

I spent many hours hand stitching down the binding to the back, but I did a lot of it while sitting out on the patio enjoying the summer skies and a nice breeze on Saturday.  I'm happy with the way it turned out.  It didn't get a label, but someday it may be a gift for a baby so I'm okay with that. 

Next were two squirrel projects, a pillow from the Frolic Turnover (Sandy Gervais) made into Broken Dishes blocks, and the Yarnover tablerunner.

I chose a simple stitch from one of the four stitch menus on my Husqvarna and used the walking foot and a Hera marker for the quilting.

I was happy to find this aqua blue flower print and the binding fabric in stash.  I used the same quilting stitch on the pillow back hem.  This is such a great way to make a pillow cover, assembling it just like a quilt with the bound edge.  I overlapped the back pieces by about 3-4 inches. 

I think it turned out well.  The pillow form I used was a bit flat but I thought it would be better for display at the fair. 

 The other squirrel entry is the Yarnover tablerunner (Anka's Treasures) from Mini Charms.

After some simple stitch in the ditch I decided to add the embroidery detail, again with a stitch from the Husqvarna.  I selected it from the "utility stitch" section, but liked the way it kind of echoed the yarnover points.    To these three projects I added the set of four Tea Time placemats, the Big Bag of all dotted fabrics I made a couple of months ago, a modern tablerunner I finished for Sewtopia, and the May Stamp cross-stitch in  the hoop, so 7 total entries.  Sadly I didn't end up finishing Sue Goes to the Orient, but chose backing and binding and plan to make a mini quilt. 

My timing was good for getting down to the Fairgrounds, there were a lot of folks sitting around waiting for something to do.  We all had a laugh when I pulled out the Metro Twist and had a bunch of thread tails still sticking out.  A kind volunteer gave me some scissors to trim them off.  They were pleased that I had already looked up the categories I thought were right for my entries, saving a lot of time.  A few more people trickled in the last 1/2 hour of the day.  I'll look forward to seeing my entries when the fair opens next week.  

See more Design Walls on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.