Three for September Wrap Up

The September challenge I set for myself, working on a different WIP for three days at a time all month, has been a great motivator and I have gotten some finishes that were long desired. I chose 10 projects and either moved along or finished 8 of the projects.  

#1 was the placemats for my nephew and his bride.  Goal was met of finishing the four placemats and mailing them to the happy couple.  

This photo shows the colors truer than the final shot with the aqua floral binding.  Nice to check off that fast finish for the first project, as I was already working on it, lol!

#2 was Garden Pinwheel, a quilt made from bonus triangles from the Rick Rack Road quilt here.  

I was stuck on the applique border.  Using the GO cutter after applying Steam a Seam2 fusible to the leaf fabrics was a big help in moving this quilt top along. 

Since I already had completed the back and binding, it will be next in the quilting queue. 

#3 was Jewels in the Curio.  I started this last year on National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, from a  Civil War Homefront Jelly Roll my mom and dad bought me years ago.  It is a Moda Bakeshop pattern. Goal was to assemble the finished Jewel Box Blocks into a top and work on the three borders. 

I finished the top and reassessed the border pieces that I needed were cut.  I also chose a neutral from stash to use for two of the borders instead of trying to cobble together scrappy ones, a decision that had stalled the quilt. 

#4 was Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient.  Sue had stalled a number of times, having been started about 4 years ago with bonus triangles from this quilt I made in 2006.

After a cutting error when trimming Sue's linen background meant I had to add coping strips that looked like a doorway to me, I added the oriental lantern embroidery.  She is all finished now, with a facing on the back made from Japanese fabric my sister in law brought me from a trip to Japan. 

Simple quilting was all that was needed.

This sideways pic shows how the top facing covers the shorter side facing, eliminating bulk in the corners.  I made skinny channel to hold a bamboo skewer or knitting needle for a hanging sleeve.  So happy to have Sue finished at last, so many years after the original idea struck.

#5 was Zig Zag 9 patch, a quilt started from a block swap with an online Yahoo Group.  I assembled the top a couple of years ago...2012! (cough) a la Bonnie Hunter's quilt Rick Rack Nines, and it went to the quilter in 2017; the binding was machine sewn on in June this year and it has been waiting since then to have some missed stitching repairs and get a bath. I took it to the laundromat today and it is a finished quilt at last. 

Our CalKing bed is too wide for the zig zags to run vertically, but I still think it looks good.  The Baptist Fan quilting was my choice, and I love the texture.  So pleased to have made a bed sized quilt for US at last. 

#6 was Go Four It, a Leader-Ender I've been working on for a few years, based on Edyta Sitar's quilt in APQ magazine, with a twist.  Quilt MATH finally being worked out meant I needed to find a setting fabric for my layout.  Luckily I have found one.

The Jan Patek fabric I found at the Santa Barbara Quilt Guild show a few weeks ago is now washed and ready to cut.  I can finally turn this Leader Ender into a real quilt.  

#7 was two unplanned "squirrel" project tablerunners from a Kim Brackett book.  Inspiration struck to use charm squares instead of yardage and I assembled two tops before running out of steam.  Both are now finished. 

I chopped off the corner in this pic, but you get the idea.  This is from her Cross My Heart quilt in Scrap-Basket Surprises.  I had fun with the specialty stitches on my machine to add detail to walking foot quilting.

Above is the larger tablerunner, and below is the mini, from the same Prayer Flag charm pack that had languished in a drawer for years. 

#8  was the Medallion Star rescue quilt.  I inherited this early 90's top from my former boss, whose now ex-wife was clearing out her old craft projects.   I had chopped off some of the dated background fabric and made a new pieced border of my own 3 years ago.  

It became a sandwich and stalled during the quilting stage in 2017.  It has been stuffed under my cutting table waiting for more quilting for over a year.  I had spray basted the quilt and needed to iron it flat again before adding more quilting today.  While still not finished, it is very close to becoming a real quilt at last. 

 Walking foot quilting in the border chains...

...and surrounding the star points.  I have the four corner squares left to do in the burgundy, and a plan for the remainder of the borders.  Now September is over and I feel great about all the time I've spent in my sewing room this month. 

The two projects that didn't get touched were Barefoot in the Park, a Christmas quilt which is a layout, switcheroo and assemble the top job, and the other is framing the Mason Jar embroidery I recently finished.  I'll get to them :)  

I plan to revisit this "Three For a Month" idea in the future whenever I get overwhelmed again.  It was fun to touch each of these quilts and finish a few. 

Progress on Sue: Three for September

Three for September:  All this month I am choosing a different WIP to work on every three days.   

It was Sunbonnet Sue's turn, as noted in my last post, who has been going to the Orient for some years...(cough).  I brought Sue with me to an appointment Monday to have my iPhone serviced. (FYI: Best Buy has authorized Apple Services and can change your iPhone battery for $29.  The $29 price is only good from Apple through the rest of this year, then it costs $79 again.)  I sat and stitched in the car for awhile and got a couple more lanterns done.  When I got home, I had to rush to finish a pincushion for a guild swap, which I didn't take a picture of, and finish a binding on a Thomas Fire Quilt, before going to our meeting.  I didn't get back to Sue again until this morning, so am over the three days, but it's my WIP party so I'm not too fussed about it!  

The embroidery was finally finished and I ironed away the Frixion pen markings.  Maybe I've looked at this too long, but I'm not entirely  happy with my composition.  It's staying the way it is, though.

I also chose a backing fabric.  My sister-in-law Laura bought this and some other beauties on a trip to Japan a few years ago.  If I have enough, I'll make the facing from the same fabric.  Then it was time to choose the next WIP.  Since I woke up cold this morning and had to use a throw quilt, I am choosing the Rick Rack Nine Patch.  

I sewed the binding on several months ago and when machine stitching it to the back, missed some spots, which must be hand sewn closed.  Then I will need to take it to the laundromat for its first bath as it is HUGE.  A label will follow and then it can be declared a Real Quilt and come live on our bed.  Here's a pic from last year when I got it back from the quilter. 

This is a Bonnie Hunter design though I used swap blocks that were made from 3.5" squares so a lot bigger than her pattern (Rick Rack Nines is from the Leaders and Enders book).  I love the Baptist Fan quilting.  If I finish up the hand stitching quickly, I will return to Sue and also start prepping the two jelly roll projects for the National Sew a Jelly Roll day.  Lots of cutting to do. 

I also cut and made binding today for  Narragansett Browns as well as another Thomas Fire quilt that was a donated top made from a jelly roll.  The TF quilt is an odd size at 64 x 100 so lots of binding was needed.  I'd like to get all the bindings done tomorrow, if I can.   Off to sew....

Design Wall Monday--Another Stitchy Weekend

Design Wall Monday is here.  My favorite weekend activity was again in play, there was progress on several projects--and a little cleaning up in the sewing room. 

Rick Rack Nines received a few hours of attention.  I did chose to machine stitch down the binding after all, in the interest in finishing this UFO that has been on my list for years.  These 9 patch blocks were swapped many years ago, and I finished the quilt top in 2012, the quilting was done a year ago.  Yikes. 

For those who were in favor of the slow stitching binding method, never fear, wherever you  see a binding clip is a place I missed the edge and have to hand stitch it. Sigh. I told my husband that I'll have this finished for our bed just in time for the hottest day of the summer, as it seems to be traditional for me!  It is supposed to be 95 here on the weekend.  I mentioned before that we don't have central air conditioning, yes?  Fortunately the R2D2 room unit keeps the bedroom cool at night. 

The Tea Time Placemats got trimmed and I cut and sewed the binding, so they are up next in the binding queue.  

I'm happy with the blue dot and look forward to using these placemats after the 4th of July decor comes down. 

While looking for something else, I came across another UFO box that needed more pieces cut in order to progress.  Since the cutting table was half cleared off (cough), I prepped the fabric for setting squares and triangles for a Christmas quilt. 

Some Charm squares and stash fabrics became large 4 patches last year.  I purchased this setting fabric at Superbuzzy during the holiday season.  It is a Lori Holt fabric called Cozy Christmas.  I was so happy to find a light fabric with all the colors to match my 4 patches.  The yardage was a bit narrow, so I just squeaked by in cutting the needed pieces for my layout of Barefoot In The Park.

I sure miss the Loft Creations blog and my friend Stephanie who authored it.  Her design is double sided, my plan is to make just the front but I want it a bit larger so added another row of the 4 patches.  Leftover charm squares will have circles cut and then applied to the setting squares as on the pattern picture. 

Bright, scrappy, and cheerful.  I selected an aqua background Christmas print for the border.  I'll look forward to finishing this one.  

See more design walls on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Design Wall Monday--Binding Extravaganza

Design Wall Monday is here again.-- on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.  On my to-do list has been large quilt binding.  I have had a king sized quilt awaiting binding for many months, with an almost-enough pile of binding awaiting final measuring before applying to the quilt.  I don't know why I let these jobs linger for so long! 

Looking back in my files, I got it back from the quilter almost a year ago.  Shameful!  So yesterday the binding--all 400 inches--got stitched on. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, I think it's called Rick Rack Nines.

Now that the binding is on, I'm trying to decide if I am crazy enough to hand stitch it to the back, or if machine binding will be fine--I'm leaning towards machine!  It's a quilt for our bed.  

More miles of binding were cut and sewn for two donation quilts.  We are still giving quilts to victims of the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide disasters.  

Isn't this one pretty?  These are Perkiomen Valley blocks, which can be laid out so many ways.  I only added the green binding.  We have been stitching bindings to the back and bringing to the front to machine finish. The next Perkiomen Valley quilt I worked on looked so familiar, but it wasn't until I took a final picture that I realized why. 

It is so amazing that this one came back to me for binding, as I originally laid out all the blocks months ago at a sew-in, from a pile of  "mostly go together" disparate blocks.  You can see that the lights and darks are a bit muddy in some places but there is still enough contrast in most.  It needs a label and then is ready for our next pop-up giveaway next month.

I also ventured out over the weekend to find binding choices for the Tea Time placemats I was working on--they are all quilted now.  I had a lovely time breathing in quilt shop fabric fumes and being in the company of other makers.  A number of fabrics jumped in my basket but here are the top two binding choices:

The mini-dot is actually navy that reads purple.  The gray crackle finish looks good too.  Maybe I'll make two of each color binding since I love both, lol. The four placemats will take far less time to bind than all those huge quilts!

Rick Rack Nines Quilted

My fellow guild member and quilter, Georganna, finished Rick Rack Nines and I picked it up today.  Sneak peak pics of the border had me very pleased and I was eager to see the whole quilt. 

I chose Baptist Fans for this very scrappy quilt made of  9" swap blocks I finally put together years after the blocks were made by the Quiltbuddies Yahoo Group I was in. 

More of the endless cheddar fabric in the borders.  Georganna said the borders demanded special treatment...

I think the cables are a great choice.  The green print backing was a Road to California find from Pineapple Fabrics, 108" wide backing.  Georganna commented that it had a very nice "hand", and I agree.  The quilt just fits on our Cal King bed.  The inspiration setting was from Bonnie Hunter's Rick Rack Nines quilt (Adventures with Leaders and Enders book) but my blocks are a lot bigger.   Very excited to have this finished top finally become a real quilt that we can use.  Hubby Grant likes it too, bonus!  I have a lot of binding to make and apply so I'd better get to it :)

Final chapter of the zig zag quilt

May Day found me putting the last of the quilting stitches into the zigzag quilt.  I had a few "aha" moments with this project.  The first was during the quilting stage, when I thought about the description that Leah Day of 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting gives for her samples, describing them as either fillers or edge to edge designs.  So instead of starting in the middle with my free motion (totally unoriginal giant stipple), I started at one end and stitched edge to edge in rows across the quilt.  This was so much easier than struggling with a pile of quilt surrounding my needle, trying to decide which direction to go next and dislodging my platform.  That led to my next "aha" moment, unfortunately when I was already 3/4 through with the quilting.  See my foot pedal?

 I have a square of gripper fabric to keep it from moving around on the carpet.  It occurred to me that a little square under each leg of the platform would keep it from sliding around on the desk.

I'm not sure why I didn't think of that years ago, but it worked very well.   I also tried a hint I read on Kim Brackett's blog for testing out stitching designs by using the excess backing/batting on the edge of the quilt sandwich.  I have always been scrounging around for scraps big enough to test on and this provides two of the layers ready made.  I just plopped a leftover that didn't make it into the backing and tested out my free motion foot and thread. Later this was simply cut off when I trimmed after applying the binding.  Clever, no?

My work on Saturday of finishing the quilting, making and applying the binding and adding a label was just in time to get ready for the wedding of the secretly intended owners of said quilt all along, my dear friend Tanya and her new husband. 

 I put nearly everything I could into the backing to make it the right size.  I think I have enough fabric leftover to maybe make a potholder!  Congratulations to the happy couple and I hope they like the quilt and use it often. (Thanks go to my quilt holder for doing a great job on a windy afternoon!) 

Gardening and sewing

Can you guess which one I worked on this weekend? 

New Zealand Flax

Manzanita tree

Nope, it wasn't gardening!  My mom and I did, however, volunteer as docents on a garden tour fundraiser by Ventura Botanical Gardens, which is trying to raise money to build a public garden up in the hills surrounding the Father Serra cross--otherwise known as Grant Park (we were married there!). These pictures are of the Mediterranean house and garden where they held a dinner and silent auction.  It is way up on the hill above downtown Ventura and the place was spectacular!

Front driveway, and below, view down the steep drive to the hillside abloom with wild mustard.

This home is owned by a cardiologist and his oncologist wife.  I often hear the doctor's voice as I do transcription for the physiology department.  He's one of my favorites!

Beautiful, large Spanish tile fountain at the back of the house's large patio.  The outdoor kitchen was about the size of my entire downstairs.

I have never had quite this perspective on our coastline before.  You can see in the distance the breakwater for our marina.  It was a gorgeous day. 

Dragon sculpture in a sheltered patio between wings of the home.

Mom and I visited one other garden before spending our afternoon at another lovely home, volunteering as greeters in different parts of the garden.  It was fun to chat and joke with people and be outside for hours, a rare occurrence in my life at present!  I saw several folks I knew and met some lovely others.  As for sewing, I spent all of Sunday afternoon putting together the backing for the zig zag quilt.  I think I will end up with a pile of scraps large enough to make a potholder maybe, after all the pieces I cobbled together to make the backing large enough!  And now I am off to get the thing pinned together which will probably take me two hours.  My deadline is May 1 so I gotta get to it.

P.S. What do you think of my new profile pic?

Plethora of Projects Pending

Oh, that bane of my existence, having too many projects going at once!  But still I make small steps toward a finish.  First up, since Erica's Edict is still on my whiteboard, silk prep and cutting of about 3/4 of the needed squares took place, followed by some actual sewing on the blocks. 

In this pic above, you can see a bit of the cream on cream print, and the sheen of the dupioni, both of which are hard to photograph.  I love this Collections for the Cause print.  It is now difficult to find!

The blocks will be 12 inches finished; that makes a big quilt very quickly.  I likey that!  I used my spray bottle quite often to deal with the silk owing to the woven stabilizer.  It is a bit thick but is laying flat so far.  These were fun to do block by block, just chain piecing the 6 triangle squares and then attaching them to the large square for near instant gratification.

Next, realizing the deadline to mail back the Quilts for Kids quilt is nearing (and oh boy I will not hit it), I quickly put on the borders and pinned the sandwich.  Some simple quilting will paste this baby together and I'll slap it in the mail as soon as I can.

What's that you say? Terrible photo?  I agree...not so cute wedged into the opening to my master bedroom's vanity area but the light was better here than in my sewing room.

Progress on a UFO from last year also resulted in borders and a sandwich.  This is from a now defunct quilt site's online mystery pattern.  I simplified it to make this small wallhanging.

Finally, the zig zag quilt received its borders...

I went with a 5 inch finished border.  There was a lot of trepidation as the assembly of the zig zag rows meant bias edges on all four sides once the points were cut off. 

Of course it is hard to tell where the border ends as it is lying on my red coverlet, but you get the idea.

Now to piece a backing, get a sandwich made, quilt, bind and label.  When did I say I was going to have this finished?  Oh, yeah, end of April.  Yikes!