Dreamweaver and Other Progress

It was a very busy workweek--exhausting, in fact--and that limited my stitching time, but I did make progress on the Dreamweaver wedding quilt for our son and daughter-in-law. 

The first 7 rows of 20 blocks each are done--with 19 to go!  I only had to do surgery to one row where there were too many of the same print in a diagonal line.  My efforts at careful and consistent rotary cutting are paying off in the assembly, even if it is easy to get squares out of order :)  My version of Jen Kingwell's Dreamweaver quilt eliminated the disappearing 9 patch blocks, since I greatly enlarged the quilt dimensions to about twin size for a couch quilt.  The squares finish at 3".

Leader-enders formed  9 patches to go with churn dash blocks and I sewed up the first row of the baby quilt I'm making with them. These are 6" finished.

I'm liking it so far and will have a finished top quickly.  Another project moved along is an embroidery for my sister.  I finally got out the lightbox and traced the last panel for the Blackwork Slave Quarters set, not realizing I had the fabric wrong side up until I started stitching the next day. No matter, I used a Pigma Pen which shows through to the front side.  Design decision, let's call it, to reverse the scene!

I also have a correction on my last post: the star quilt from the Quilt Now magazine is not called "A Star is Born", but "Star of the Show".  That may help searches for the pattern! 

The well-worn path from home to work was enlivened one afternoon by a helicopter hovering close by. 

We originally guessed this was a police chopper but I read in the paper that it is the electric company doing surveys and we shall see this scene a lot in the next few months--multiple fires have been blamed on power lines in our state, including the Thomas Fire that burned the hills beyond this photo. 

Soccer season has started and we'll be attending grandson Cove's game tomorrow.  I missed the opening game last week after tweaking my back somehow.  It cleared up in a couple of days but was annoying until gone. 

The other news of the week is that I ended up volunteering for the Treasurer's position at Guild.  No one wanted to be President either--but finally two members decided to co-lead, after a previous president, who is battling cancer and planning to move out of state, said he would do it.   It is sad when always the same folks put their hands up while so many others could jump in too.  I know it is common in any organization, but still disappointing.  So now I have to learn QuickBooks.  I'm sure I've mentioned that I spell for a living and don't do math--but I am assured "it's easy".  We'll see!

One Word Wednesday

Home.

Design Wall Monday--Dec 12, 2011

On my design floor today is the wedding quilt.  Yes, it has been featured about a dozen times but here it is--hooray--for the last time!

I like to stitch my binding on first, then trim away the extra batting and backing.

This quilt is large--super queen size--it barely fits in the room, which is why the edges look wavy--they aren't!  I machine stitched the binding down; the clips were to mark where I missed catching the edge and had to go back and put in a few hand stitches on the back. 

The sharp angles are complemented by rounded and organic shapes for the quilting. The ginkgo, being one of the oldest species of tree on the planet, are a repeating theme in the fabrics and quilting to represent my wishes for a long and happy married life for Elaine and Chris.

I decided against quilting in the outer border.  Somehow it felt more in keeping with the modern design.

Two different flannels for the backing and Dream Green polyester batting help make this one heavy quilt.  I'll be pleased to see it on their bed and not my design floor any more!  See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.



Saturday's doings

We had plans to go out to breakfast this morning and get our Christmas tree, but it started getting late and we were hungry so we ate at home and put off the tree errand until midday.   Last night I finished the mini quilt but the light was poor and I could not get a good photo.

Here it is on the wooden stand displayed with my favorite rustic decorations. I'm pleased with the simple framing and fabric choices and will love having this in my mini quilt collection.  Then it was back to work on the wedding quilt.  A quilting plan for these 3 x 8 edge sections came to me as I was drifting off to sleep the other night.

 I'm calling this a "stacked stone" sort of design.  Nice organic curves to balance the many right angles of the blocks.

Free motion quilting first in a serpentine and then circle around and serpentine back up to complete the ovals. I eyeballed it all the way, no marking, no worrying about whether each "stone" was exactly the same width, just having the same number of stones in each section, which in this case was five.  Very quick, finished all the sections in less than an hour and then spent some time tying off and burying threads.  I use an Easy Threader needle for this task--the kind with a split end that you pop over your your threads instead of having to trim the ends of the thread even and then through an eye.  Much faster!  I'm determined to get this quilt finished this weekend.  Yes, I know I said that last weekend too but really feel it is doable this time!

About noon we went and got our fresh tree--bought the very first one we looked at at Lowe's (we are not picky except we like Noble Fir trees 6-7' tall), had lunch, came home and I finished the household decorating.  The tree is next, which means moving furniture and bringing down more boxes but is the tail end of the decorating.  Looking forward to having that fresh tree smell in the house for the next week or two!

Design Wall Monday--Nov 28, 2011

There's nothing on my design surface today--because I've finally started on the quilting I'd been avoiding contemplating. After finishing all the larger squares of the wedding quilt Saturday with the ginkgo leaf motif, I started quilting on the smaller white ones.

This motif is a made up compilation of a Dard Hunter Rose and a sort of spiral.   I practiced on paper and then with a bamboo cuticle stick on the actual quilt square before beginning free motion quilting.  I found it easiest to start with the outside circle and then spiral inward in a sort of triangle fashion.  Some extra love is sprinkled into the quilt with the center hearts.

Initially I tried out a rust/cream variegated thread in the white squares but decided what I really wanted to stand out was the texture and not the thread.  Naturally, I ran out of white machine quilting thread before completing all the flowers. There is plenty of thread tying and clipping to keep busy with, though, until I get to the fabric store for more thread.  See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Quilting leaves on a windy day

This morning I finished free motion quilting all of the larger squares on the wedding quilt. Well, except for one that needed ripping out due to a big tuck on the back.

Each ginkgo leaf is different, just like the ones blowing off the tree in my neighbor's yard.

I used a variegated 40 wt thread that shows up nicely against most of the blocks.

There are 42 of these 8" squares and I have the leaves going every which way across the top.  Next, I plan on quilting the smaller white squares with another organic type shape, a loose interpretation of a flower.  ITIS is the name of my quilting game--I'll Try It & See.  Practicing only goes so far!

Working on it

The wedding quilt, that is.  I had figured up all the MATH a couple of weeks ago for the pieced backing and early last night got half the backing sewn together before making a big mistake:  I sat down on the couch in front of the TV.  Then I was cold so I put a quilt over me, which led to vegging out in front of my favorite game show, Wipeout.  Two hours later, it was getting late and no more sewing had been done.  But I was back to it today.

MATH and cutting instructions for the two different flannels going on the back of the quilt.  Elaine and Chris are crazy for their Boston Terrier, Scully, so I thought the paw prints were appropriate.

I purchased this batting at my local quilt store, primarily because it is lighter weight than cotton and can be quilted up to 12" apart.  It is my intention to use only the organic shape of a ginkgo leaf and not have to do any straight line quilting. Anyone have experience with this brand?  It is a favorite of the quilt shop owner.

I picked up a few sample ginkgo leaves from my front yard, blown in from the neighbor's tree across the street.  I like the "split" ones the best but the fan shape is also pleasing. I may just be able to free motion them all instead of my original plan of drawing them on freezer paper.  Or I may start with a few freezer paper ones just to get into a rhythm.  My quilting method is generally ITIS  (I'll Try It & See).  My seam ripper will probably see some action either way!



Design Wall Monday--Oct 17, 2011

Another repeat--all that is happening here is wedding wedding wedding!  For my kind blog readers who were concerned about the outfit I'm making for the wedding, I present the following:

Hong Kong finishes on the seams of the jacket.

A hem, a button, and the jacket will be finished.  It looks better on me than the hanger, I promise!  The matching dress has yet to be made but will be much simpler than this 15 piece jacket.  A "backup" dress I ordered from Macy's should be arriving today as well.

I was missing the quilting portion of my sewing time so after the all the concentration on the jacket work I cut and sewed the binding for the wedding quilt and got some of the border strips together.  Ahh, that's better!  See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Followup and Followers

The giveaway is now closed to comments.  Thanks for playing my game!  Winner to be announced Thursday 10/13. 


I got a chance to take The Wedding Quilt to DD Elaine's a couple of nights ago.  It is already plenty big for their queen bed and the addition of the narrow 3" border called for by the pattern is all that is necessary to finish off the top (Natural Beauty, Quilts and More, Winter 2010).  I spent a lovely hour in the fabric store picking out a solid border fabric (actually, I spied the color almost immediately but wandered about looking at everything else for another hour).  This is a Kona color called "Earth".  It plays well with the rust fabric that will be the binding as well as the other neutrals in the top.  Luckily, despite my MATH error, I bought twice as much as I thought I needed and just eked out the number of strips required.  Note to self:  TWO sides + a TOP and BOTTOM= 4 borders. 

In other news, a very lovely number has come up on my sidebar--there are 100 Followers of my little blog.  Briefly I had 101 Followers a couple of different days; not sure what caused them to go away, but do hope they come back.  To celebrate the triple digit experience, a thank-you-for-following giveaway is in order, don't you think?  Since I am a obviously a WORD girl, the prize will be a copy of Word Play Quilts, the free-pieced lettering guide I've been using for my Any Witch Way quilts, so some lucky person can play with words too.

By coincidence the author, Tonya Ricucci, is appearing on The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson this week. She has a photo of Alex Anderson standing in front of the "Cake Quilt", for which I made the SOAR block. Pretty cool! Subscribers to The Quilt Show can view episode #907, otherwise you can sign up to view it for free through October 9th HERE. 

For the giveaway, I'd love to hear about more unusual but real names you may have among your family or friends and neighbors.  Leave one comment to enter and make sure your email is either in your profile or the comment so I have a way to contact you.  Following is not a requirement to enter.  I'll be ordering the book through Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website and she does ship internationally.  Comments will close Wednesday night by 11 pm and a winner will be selected Thursday, lucky October 13th, in the morning.  

Design Wall Monday--Aug 29, 2011

On my design floor today is the Wedding Quilt--DD Elaine's nuptials are only two months away!  I laid out the pieces for the remaining four rows of the quilt and got three of the already stitched rows sewn together.

The quilt will be queen sized.  The pattern (Natural Beauty from Winter 2010 Quilts and More mag) calls for a 3.5 inch border.  I may make it a bit wider but haven't decided yet.  See more Design Walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Both of our August birthday offspring (above) have now had their birthdays.  Nick had his yesterday and was surprised by his girlfriend Alison with a skydiving adventure.  We thought we had him going a little on a red herring story but he confessed afterwards that the skydiving trip was what he suspected the surprise would be all along.  Happy 26th, son!

The British are coming!

Actually, William and Kate, the newlywed royals, have already been in Southern California for a few hours now.  But tomorrow they will pass through my city on their way to the Santa Barbara Polo Grounds, some 25 miles north of here.  It is said to be the only public venue of their trip and tickets are $400-$4000 to see William play polo and Kate award the winner's trophy.  The Polo Grounds are close to ritzy enclave Montecito, where many celebrities have homes palatial estates, including Oprah.  No doubt a sizable crowd will attend and much money will be made to benefit charity. 

I always had a special affection for Princess Diana, as we were born the same year and she was ever in the news all her too-short life, along with her boys and of course Prince Charles, with whom I share a birthday. The newlywed royals seem to have much more in common and to be a lot happier than Diana and Charles ever were.  It was so very sad watching William and Harry follow her coffin in the streets, the flowers on the hood with the card addressed to "Mummy".  I hope William and Kate have much more happiness in their future and hope some littler royals come along soon.  Although with those hips, Kate may require a C-section!

Our youngest arrived last night for an 11 day visit from Arizona.  Erica said that when she landed in Burbank and it was "only 84 degrees" she was really pleased--having been baking in 110 degree plus weather for a couple of weeks.  It is nice to have two of our chicks here in the nest.

There was a free block of time in my schedule this morning so I got my sewing machine going again after its spa day.  Purr purr purr

The last four leader-ender Baby Boxes and the first block of the new leader-ender got stitched along with another row of the wedding quilt.  Talk about multitasking!  DD Elaine/Bride to Be has thought of a couple more things I can make for the wedding so a trip to the fabric store is planned for the weekend. July's list of sewing/quilting goals is pretty ambitious--good thing my machine is in tip top shape! 

Design Wall Monday--Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day to all Americans, everywhere.  Our family will gather at our parents' house and there will be lots of food, fun, and fireworks to watch. 

On my design surface today are two projects.  First, the wedding quilt for DD Elaine and Chris:

Almost three rows laid out before I ran out of pieces and had to cut more. 

Since there were so many pieces in each row as I stacked them, bag clips bought on the cheap came in handy to keep them all together. 

My worries over MATH were allayed when I stitched together the row I was the most concerned about.  The pattern called for four 3.5" white squares and I eliminated those in my re-drawing, which changed the way the rows were assembled.  Fortunately my numbers were true and the segments all matched up.  Whew!  Lots more sewing will be necessary to get all the pieces laid out and the rows sewn.

Next is the quilt on my list for the UFO Challenge this month, the Mystery Quilt from Judy's Patchwork Times last June.  I did a bit more switcheroo after this layout.  If you'll notice, there are too many darks at the top and all the lightest blocks are in a diagonal row.  I have backing bought, fabric for borders but decisions to make on that, and of course quilting and binding to do before I call this a finish.  See more design walls on Patchwork Times. 

Saturday Layout

Early morning wakeup this Saturday and time to play with layouts for the wedding quilt.

Yesterday the sections were cut from the strip sets. 

Here laid out according to the pattern and my original vision of my fabric choices versus the magazine.

I was bothered by the high contrast between the rust stripe and the green--those complementary shades intensify each other--and the dark appearing too deep with the rust stripe around it.

Second layout. 

The neutrals seem more balanced in this layout with the tan and rust more prominent, which is what I want.  Opinions?