Connie's Crafts

Lots of feathers quilted my Civil War Christmas

2012-02-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

I finally found my feather practice piece from the February Free Motion Quilting challenge, led by Diane Gaudinski this month. Thanks SewCalGal for getting this together!

Once I finished the practice piece, I figured it was time to practice on something bigger. Here is a shot of the back. I still need to fill in some largish holes, but pretty much done.

Here is the front. You can't see the quilting too well, but it is there.

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T10:26:00.001-08:00

I grew up with Disney, and even more than that, my kids grew up with Disney. I have a few favorite characters, Winnie-the-Pooh is one, and Tinkerbell is another. Kind of different from each other, but both have a place in my heart. DH has a large spot in my heart, and knows me. This is what I got this morning

2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge #2

2012-02-04T23:51:00.000-08:00

When I was taking this picture, I couldn't find the first sample, and this isn't the best shot, because of the busy fabric, but these are the first feathers I did on the BB Civil War BOW, from the back. Will continue working on this, it is FUN!

Free Motion quilt challenge #1

2012-01-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

King Tut thread on top, aurifil in bobbin, Hobbs wool batting, leaves pattern, free motion without my BSR, been a while since I've done this! Stitches got better as I went along, way to big to start with.

Diamond in a Square

2012-01-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

I started cutting out this quilt in 2001. Did not make a lot of progress (only the red rectangles got cut at that time). I ran out of red, and wanted to use it more, but alas, it was not to be. I ended up getting more fabric, washing it, and not getting back, you know that old distraction thing. I had started something else, and this had lost its appeal. Fast forward to December 2011. The Free Motion Quilting challenge 2012 was announced, and solid fabrics were prefereable for samples because you could see the quilting. And I had a picnic basket full of solid fabrics for this quilt. Still wanting to make this, I decided to make the top, all 96" square of it, then make sample sandwiches with leftovers. One sandwich is now ready to go for the January stitch-out. Stay tuned!

Piecing a backing

2012-01-05T22:38:00.000-08:00

The Civil War BOW needs a backing so I can baste and quilt it. Unfortunately, the piece of fabric I thought would work is just a tad small, in both directions. Fortunately, the backing for the Wild and Crazy Kinda quilt was big, very big, so I am stitching the widest bits to two sides of the too small backing. After measuring, there is about 3" or so all the way around, I'll need to be careful when basting, but it should be OK.

Wild and Crazy Kinda Quilt - done

2012-01-05T22:08:00.000-08:00

Bound, labeled and loved, "Best gift ever" according to my DD, the recipient, one happy Mom.

Brackman Civil War BOW - Top done!

2012-01-02T02:12:00.000-08:00

After a year of working on these blocks, with the final one received on Saturday, 31 Dec 2011, the quilt top is pieced. It seems like I have been doing nothing but blocks all year (2011), and now the fruits of my labor are several quilt tops all at once, the Churn Dash, the Mill Girls, Christmas Greetings from Elm Creek Manor, and now this one, A Civil War Christmas.

Brackman's Civil War BOW

2012-01-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

49 Yankee Puzzle - fun to make with fussy-ish cut toile, I used Marti Michell templates,

50 - Grapes of Wrath - again used MM templates

51 New York - Paper pieced (thank goodness for EQ!)

52 Christmas Star - another paper pieced block

53 Union Shield - and the final paper pieced block

And my final extra block - California - because it was in the Union then, had a minor role in the Civil War, but it is also my home state.

Now to get them all sewn together! Just the final rows to stitch, then onto borders. I was waiting for the last blocks in case I wanted to move anything around for color placement.

Mill Girls Done

2011-12-31T21:44:00.000-08:00

The Asian Mill Girls is now done! I took a picture to show the block quilting, each one of those blocks took a while, but it is done. There is also stitching in the ditch in the sashing and border blocks, signed in the quilting in the bottom skinny border.

Asian Mill Girls a top

2011-12-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

I need a better name for this quilt, but right now it is temporarily dubbed the Asian Mill Girls quilt (top). I got the borders on tonight, now waiting for the backing fabric to come, probably not until 21 Dec .On the plus side, I dropped "A Wild and Crazy kinda Quilt" at the longarmer's today, and they promised to have it done before Christmas. It might need the binding still, but DD will be able to open it on Christmas. The wool batting will be nice, it snowed on her the other day, and we don't get much of that where we live.

Quilting

2011-12-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

I am always trying to get my quilting better. I just recently found out about SewCalGal's 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge, and I am taking it! With lots of quilts to quilt, I need all the help I can get. Too bad I won't know any of the challenge help until after Christmas, what with at least two quilts to quilt before then!Link is in the side bar.

Wild and Crazy Kind of Quilt

2011-12-03T18:00:00.001-08:00

Another top is done. I've been working on parts of tops for a while, and all of a sudden things are turning into tops. I have dubbed this one a "Wild and Crazy Kind of Quilt". It includes leftovers of things (like a vest I made my daughter when she was about 6) and new stuff and all bright and wonderful. It is her going away to college quilt, that took a little longer than it should have, but almost done now. Now if I can just find someone to get it quilted before Christmas!

Wild and Crazy

2011-11-30T22:39:00.001-08:00

I think this is the brightest, wildest, quilt I have ever attempted. Fun too . The original was from American Patchwork and Quilting, Feb 2008, Bohemian Charm. Sandra - it is also in a new magazine, a compilation of scrappy quilts from AP&Q.Been going back and forth on various quilts trying to get them all done, getting closer.

Christmas Greetings from Elm Creek Manor top done

2011-11-29T15:34:00.001-08:00

I've been leading a block of the month for this quilt, posting the next month's block at the beginning of the month. That meant I could be trying to do a complex block in a busy month, so during some slow months I worked ahead. Consequently I got all my blocks done ahead of time, and got my quilt top put together before Christmas. Yeah! Will it get quilted before Christmas? Don't know, I have a couple of other quilts I need to get back to finishing, before this one gets basted. But meanwhile, I can enjoy it pinned to something, and I'll take that and be happy.

Getting Back to the Civil War - blks 41 to 48

2011-11-27T22:59:00.001-08:00

I've been busy doing other things quilty, and have been roadblocked by block #41, Red, white and Blue, picking the fabrics just wasn't working. I finally decided to just do it, and came up with this:

After that it was pretty easy sailing, doing several paper pieced blocks, like #42 H is for Hospital,

and #43 Right Hand of Friendship,

and #44 Union

Then there was #45 Port and Starboard, that I did with Marti Michell templates (B set), which also worked for

#46 Apple Tree

Back to paper piecing #47 Dixie Tea

and then a combination of Marti Michell templates and printed templates from EQ, this week's #48 West Virginia.

All caught up!

2011-11-26T17:17:00.001-08:00

This scarf is to go with a hat I made for my daughter earlier this year. Fairly simple pattern that I found on Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/seaweed-stole-scarf), and I was so glad when I finally finished it! Made with two skeins of Sirdar Crofter Dk (60% acrylic, 25% cotton, and 15% wool).

Mexican Star table runner

2011-11-26T17:14:00.001-08:00

I started this in a Debbie Caffrey class at International Quilt Festival, Houston last fall. finally finished, just in time to go on my buffet this Christmas season

"Bard Babes: and other things

2011-11-20T19:04:00.001-08:00

Today was a good day, no a fabulous day. The only thing that will make it better is sewing a bit this evening. After a late night sewing, I slept late, then after a leisurely morning, DH and I ventured over the hill to see Robin Goodley Nordlii in the self-written "Bard Babes". What fun! From Prologue to Warm-up to Pleading to Curtsies to Swooning to Cross-dressing, and I am sure I forgot some, it was a hoot, things an actor must be able to do when being a Bard Babe. Only wish my daughter was there too.After that it was downtown to do a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, the shop we were hoping to go to was closed, permanently. Fortunately, there were other equally good shops close by!Then to wonderful dinner on the coast, watching the sunset from our table.Oh, and I slept late because last night was "Santaland Diaries" at City Lights Theatre Company, another fun night, and a friend in the lead role - go Adam!

Mariners Compass

2011-11-20T11:00:00.001-08:00

I had two small quilts sitting by my sewing machine, ready to quilt. Once I got the placemats done I thought I would get at last one of these done and get it on my completed list. The picture shows it quilted. This was started in a Judy Mathieson class at Empty Spools (Asilomar) last spring. I finally got the quilting thread at PIQF this October (Superior Threads King Tut #403, Thebes), but was so engrossed with my other projects to get to quilting this.

It was primarily free motion quilting. The skinny gold border got a stitch in the ditch treatment using the new sole plate for my walking foot, with the stitch in the ditch blade. That took some work to replace the sole plate, but it finally got done. Now I need to put the open toe sole plate back on to attach the binding, which is prepped and ready to go, same as the border fabric. The border quilt pattern came from Quiltmaker volume 4, size modified in EQ7.

Quilting, actually quilting

2011-11-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

After I finished the center for the Mill Girls quilt I decided to take a break from piecing and finally get the placemats done that I had gotten back to in October. So I pulled out the BSR foot and got to work.
I now have eight sets of Harvest placemats and napkins!

Mill Girls center done

2011-11-17T23:09:00.001-08:00

Been busy putting the blocks together with sashing and cornerstones. I had leftover squares from making the blocks (and cutting twice as many as I needed...), and went back and forth between colored cornerstones or not. Finally decided to use them once I decided to sash the whole center as well as the inner bits, making the quilt 4" longer and wider, which will fit a queen size bed much better. Next is the skinny cream border, then the quarter square triangle border. So, probably won't get that all done this weekend!

Mill Girls Quilt

2011-11-06T21:49:00.000-08:00

I am taking part in a quilt-along of the Mill Girls quilt. This is week 4, and I have managed to piece all of the blocks for the center! Wish I could count better. First I overcut, then I undercut pieces. But like how it is turning out. These are the 36 blocks, taken in two pictures because my design wall is not big enough to show them all at once.

Lots been going on!

2011-10-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Lots of stuff has happened since I blogged last. The Churn Dash blocks are done (99 of them), but they are waiting for a space to lay them out, soon I hope. These are the 4 1/2" ones.

I found a box of stuff in the shed when cleaning it, including some autumn placemats and napkins that were cut but not sewn. I pulled out batting and stitched up the placemats, although they still need the opening closed, and need to be quilted. I actually had some King Tut the right color, and they will get finished soon. What I didn’t have was the Wooly nylon to do the napkin rolled edge serging. Got that last night, so now can pull out the serger and get those done.

Pacific International Quilt Festival came and went. I went Thursday and Friday with my sister. I had a shopping list and mostly kept to it. I did get another Martelli cutting mat, this one for classes or to sit next to my sewing machine when not in class. I also got several more colors of King Tut thread, so now I can quilt my Christmas Mexican Star table runner and my Split Star Mariner’s Compass wall hanging. One of the vendors had all of the Marti Michell templates, so I got the S set (for 6” five patch blocks!), the small drunkards path and both Kaleidoscope rulers. There were lots of pretty quilts this year, and of course I didn’t have my camera on Thursday when I went through most of them. There were two Dear Jane quilts, I like mine better, but that is OK, after all I did pick out the fabrics for mine . I did get a bit of new fabric, from the Bittersweet line that the new Patchwork Party 2011 is using.

And I started another quilt, this one the Mill Girls quilt from Jennifer Chiaverini’s More Elm Creek quilts, a quilt along with a Yahoo group. I got most of it cut out, and lots of half square triangles made to now turn into quarter square triangles. I will get back to it soon, maybe tonight. I love the fabric, pulled lots of fat quarters from my stash of Asian inspired fabrics, and also found the background fabric in stash. Love shopping from my room, and it also helps to remind me of all the things I have, and don’t need to add to!

Then I worked on my Christmas Greetings from Elm Creek Manor center. After much debate with myself I decided to use fusible (for the trees and outer pieces) and invisible machine appliqué on a starched turned edge (over freezer paper) for the buildings and snow (and one tree). My hand just won’t be happy doing all of the hand work right now, and I want to get this quilt finished! (I also got some King Tut to quilt it while at PIQF). The plus side of using machine appliqué is I can assemble off the fabric to align the edges and either press the bits together, if fusible, or glue stick the edges if doing a turned edge. This let me get the alignment right, since I could just start from the right edge with the snow bank (as you look at it) and then keep going. All the pieces went together perfectly! After the center parts were attached (and stitched!) I pressed diagonal lines to help align the corner pieces, and chalked the seam line so I could keep the appliqué inside the line. Next will be doing machine embellishment, after I practice on some of the cut-away bits! When I am rested.

I am now three blocks behind in Barbara Brackman’s Civil War BOW, and one more done. I should assemble another row or two after I get caught back up.

Oh, and I got back the Author’s Album blocks that I swapped! Now to make a bunch more and get quilting friends to sign them, in the new year. This is not a priority project!

Churn Dash Progress

2011-09-28T23:06:00.001-07:00

The 6" blocks are all done! Now to work on the 4 1/2" blocks, 5 down, 28 to go.The grouping on the right shows the four different sizes and how they work together. There will also be a little spacer strip by the 4 1/2" blocks.

Brackman CW blocks 35 - 39

2011-09-28T23:04:00.001-07:00

All caught up!

Blocks 31 to 34

2011-09-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Got back and did four blocks of Barbara Brackman's Civil War BOW, Spool, Carolina Lily variation, Indiana Puzzle and Rosebud. While I was at it, I also made four more 6" Churn Dash blocks, now to pick out fabrics for the last two.

Beth's Churn Dash

2011-09-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

I am getting rather tired of making churn dash blocks. As you can see, I have been making quite a few, different sizes. The largest ones (16.5" finished) are all done (18 of them), as are the second largest (10.5", twenty one of them), plus quite a few 6" blocks and just four 4.5" blocks.

These are most of the 10.5" blocks

And these are the 6" blocks, along with a few 10.5" and 4.5" blocks.I still have six 6" blocks to go, and about 30 4.5" blocks. I am taking a break and am going to work on my Barbara Brackman Civil War Quilt for today.

Mill Girls Quilt

2011-09-17T02:25:00.000-07:00

The SBS and Other Elm Creek Quilts Yahoo group is doing a quilt along starting in October of the Mill Girls Quilt. So far I have picked out fabric, and carefully removed any pink bits, since my son's girlfriend doesn't like pink. This will be for them, so will be queen size when done. To be started after the Churn Dash Quilt is done (or at least a top and sent to the quilter, if I don't quilt it myself).

Churn Dash

2011-09-17T02:19:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been working on this Churn Dash quilt for my daughter. She is heading off to college, and I wanted to make her a new quilt to take with her. Only problem is, I started way too late! Plus I went on vacation, and very little sewing done then.The blocks are going to be four different sizes, 16 1/2", 10 1/2", 6" and 4 1/2", along with some spacer bits. All of the large blocks are done and I am working on the 10 1/2" blocks now.

Farmer's Wife Sampler top done

2011-07-31T18:54:00.001-07:00

It is a top! OK, not completely done, but a very important milestone. Now to decide if I will quilt it or I will pay to have it quilted. So it will rest a while, and I will go onto something else. And that has been decided, a quilt for my DD who is about to head off to university, far away. And I will miss her, so need to send something with her so she will feel the love.
Looking at the picture, I don't see the green in the border. It is there, but subtle.

disappearing Nine Patch

2011-07-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

Another finish, although this one is pretty small. I practiced one of the quilting stitches I learned from Barbara Shapell. This will be the first of the accent pieces I plan on making for the living room. I was fortunate to have some of the line in larger pieces than the charm pack, and used the green for the binding. Otherwise, the body is most of the Morris Workshop charm pack, I had four pieces left over.

Plaid quilt finished

2011-07-24T18:24:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I celebrated my 60th birthday with a party. My grandson was coming so I finally got the binding on his quilt. After I opened my presents I gave him one, along with matching pillowcases. He was thrilled. Now I need to make something for his brother, and I have a plan.
I got very lucky finding the same fabric I used for the border of the quilt to use as the border for the pillowcases. I only had enough for one, but found the same batik when I was visiting the Sisters quilt show, actually at a store in Bend, but how lucky! I did bring along the bit I had so I could match it. That trip was also when I stitched down the binding.

Brackman Civil War BOW half done

2011-07-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

While I have been more or less keeping up with the BOW, haven't shown them here. First up is #27 Irish Chain:

Next is #28 Next door Neighbor:
Followed by #29 Railroad Crossing - like this block, good option to do a little fussy cutting -
And finally this week's #30 Stars and Stripes
But the reason I named this post "half done" is because I sashed the first 26 blocks (although not #1 - #26) along with two extra blocks!

Sisters' Outdoor Quilt show

2011-07-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a mini vacation up by Sisters, Oregon, where they have an outdoor quilt show the second Saturday in July, and quilt classes the week before. I took my first classes this year, the third time I have attended the show. Barbara Shapel covered several background quilting designs, most of them new to me. Then I took a Lone Star class made from 2 1/2" strips, which left a lot to be desired. I ended up redrafting the design in EQ7 so I could get accurate cutting instructions. Love the design though, and the concept of using some of those strips that we love to buy. Below is my center - still need to add a bunch of borders!

The teacher's quilt is above

The ladies who went to the show with me
Lots of feathered star quilts - I want to make one
also want to make a Castle Wall quilt - these were large blocks!

Barbara Brackman Civil War BOWs 24 and 25

2011-06-19T23:44:00.001-07:00

BOW 24 was Ladies Aid Album, the forerunner of the Red Cross (see the Red Cross peeking out from behind?). These were not standard MM template sizes, so I printed templates from EQ and trimmed the points with MM templates (just love how they match up when you trim them).

BOW 25 is Calico Puzzle. Again, not standard sizes for an 8" block (oh how I wish I had known when we started there would be this many nine patches, I would have modified the blocks to be 9"), so I printed templates from EQ7.
Almost half done!

Author's album progress

2011-06-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

The SBS and other Elm Creek Yahoo group is having a swap of the Author album blocks. I have been making these along with other things, the bits being leader /enders (see Quiltville for an explanation, Bonnie Hunter's idea), and occasionally doing a bit more. These 6 are done, another 4 are almost done, then I need to make 14 more (they are cut and ready to go!). I still need to sign them.

Disappearing Nine Patch

2011-06-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Talk about quick! OK, I wasn't going to start anything new until I got a few things farther along. But I had an idea to make a few things for our living room, table toppers, runner to put under the TV, and a few pillows. And I thought I would use some of the Morris inspired, or Art Nouveau inspired fabric, or maybe both kinds. and I started looking around for some simple patterns so these could be done fairly quickly, and well... Then I took out some boxes of fabric, and found a Moda charm pack of Barbara Brackman's "The Morris Workshop" and the instructions for a Disappearing Nine Patch. So, the blocks are done, laid out on the design wall to see if any tweeking needs to be done. And I will get back to what I should be doing.

Dinner ideas needed!

2011-06-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get back into, stay into, cooking from scratch. Better for me, just hard to do sometimes. When the garden is actually producing food, I will need to cook from it! Just what is in the garden? When in the height of its production, more than we can possibly eat, so I will also be learning to preserve the output. Specifically, 5 kinds of tomatoes (2 medium sized, 3 cherry/grape varieties), several kinds of summer squash, also several kinds of winter squash, pumpkin, cucumber, green beans (bush and pole), bell pepper, eggplant, kale, and lettuce. More to plant, and actually still have room to plant a bit. I want to start some fennel and maybe some carrots. Need to check the when it’s a good time to start various veggies, and pick a few more.
Meanwhile, what to cook now? When I get home, take care of the garden a bit, and then start to cook dinner, I need something quick. Last night was butternut squash (pricked, microwaved for 2 minutes, removed, cut in half, seeds removed, peeled, cut into chunks and steamed, then mashed, served with butter if desired), and Tilapia on a bed of greens with homemade lemon, honey, low sodium soy sauce, dash of sesame oil (and some other stuff) dressing. Squash cooked while I watered, then the fish was super simple and quick.
Night before was a summer squash frittata and toast.
Tonight? Who knows!

Meeting Jennifer Chiaverini

2011-06-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to meet Jennifer Chiaverini on Sunday. Very sweet and talented lady. She got to see my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler (she designed the pattern), and a couple of other works in progress taken from her "more Elm Creek Quilts" book. I made up an Album block from an Anneke fabric (her latest fabric line) and she signed it for me! How special that quilt will be for me, what with all of the other friends from the Yahoo group making blocks for it (we are swapping).

Brackman Civil War BOM 19-23

2011-06-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

#19 is Missouri Star, made with Marti Michell templates (Set B)

#20 is New England, rotary cut using regular ruler and paper templates from EQ7.

#21 is Underground Railroad (variation), made with Set B, Marti Michell templates

#22 is Blockade, again made with Set B

#23 is a very simple version of Illinois Roads. I like the more complicated version better (think nine patch with five of these made much smaller!), but opted to go with Barbara's version. Rotary cut, strip pieced, very easy!

Christmas Greetings - first four blocks

2011-05-31T22:40:00.001-07:00

After working with the taupes for so long, Christmas red and green is fun! These are from more Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini, being done in a controlled scrappy format. Still trying to decide if I want to do the center applique as designed by Jennifer, or something else. Leaning towards something else, but I never know until the quilt is done!

Farmer's Wife Sampler Center assembled

2011-05-31T15:44:00.001-07:00

Here it is! Started in October of 2009, I have had the blocks finished for a while (since October 2010), but hadn't assembled them into the center of the quilt. About 540 parts later (sashing, cornerstones, setting triangles and 113 blocks), it is a center. Only need to find the perfect border (not that easy to do, I am thinking), then I can complete the top and figure out the quilting. There is a Shop Hop in June, so if I don't find something before then, this will be making the rounds.
6/2/11 - decided to do the skinny border with the brown I used for sashing, and found a muted green fabric for the final border, with just 3 yards left on the bolt. Must have been meant to be, I needed three yards! I should have enough of the light fabric used for the setting triangles to make pillowcases, along with the brown for the accent color on the end.

Putting in a vegie garden

2011-05-04T22:59:00.001-07:00

I haven't had a vegetable garden for many years, but decided that now was a good time to renew that endeavor. With the new front yard we got a 4’ by 8’ raised bed, then DH and I took a garden design class and he built 4 more raised beds. I weeded, then we placed the bed where they will stay and put down landscape fabric and gorilla hair wood for paths and weed control, and filled the beds with topsoil and compost. Last weekend I took a summer vegetable gardening class at Love Apple Farm, and now I am trying to plant plants. So far, 4 tomatoes, a dozen strawberry plants, basil, parsley, mint (in its own pot) and dill. To go, lots. What with working, I don’t have that much time to devote to the garden. At least it is light for a while after I get home! Tomorrow will be bell peppers, eggplant and summer squash. The winter squash will be later, and hopefully it will have enough time to grow to maturity. Next year I will start seeds in February!

Advent Wreath

2011-05-01T21:45:00.001-07:00

BOM #2 This took longer to cut than to piece, mostly because my hand hurts so much right now. Weeding, mousing, driving, and especially rotary cutting, almost everything makes my hand hurt right now. For some reason, knitting doesn't hurt, so I am getting some of that done, although nothing to show yet (got sock #2 of my Box of Socks pair almost done though!)

Brackman Civil War blocks 16, 17 and 18

2011-05-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Number 16 was White House. This was all rotary cut with regular ruler.
Number 17 was Comfort Quilt, I might use this pattern in a bigger quilt. This was also all rotary cut with regular ruler.
Number 18 was Union Square, rotary cut where the corners used MM templates. Used another new fabric in this one, maybe more than one?

Brackman Civil War blocks 14 and 15

2011-04-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

Fox and Geese, block number 14: I cut this out before I left for Asilomar, and pieced it there.
Fort Sumter was the 15th block. Love the blue fabric (outer triangles), used this in my Dear Jane quilt too (triangles there too)

Split Mariner's Compass

2011-04-08T23:16:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) and attended an Empty Spools quilt seminar, fabulous week, immersed in Mariner's Compass designing, drafting, and creating, led by Judy Mathieson. Fabulous!
Started off drafting, but she had patterns we could use too. I created this:

Still needs a border, but I have a goal to finish it by June!

Star of the Magi

2011-03-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

This is my first block for the Greetings from Elm Creek Manor quilt (designed by Jennifer Chiaverini). As per usual, I used Marti Michell templates as much as possible, Set E has most of the pieces. Since I created the quilt in Electric Quilt, I just printed the pentagon template from that, rather than tracing from the book. Using double sided tape to affix it to the fabric makes it easy to rotary cut the piece, just put the quarter inch line of a small rotary ruler on the seam line and cut. Love the green fabric, had it for a while and so glad I can finally enjoy it in a quilt!

Civil War Chronicles BOM 2

2011-03-27T22:01:00.001-07:00

All caught up on block making, waiting for the next installment. The three months are currently in rows, should be a center soon. I modified the instructions a bit to remove unneeded seams, used Marti Michell templates to cut everything.

Civil War #13 - Little Blue Basket

2011-03-27T21:58:00.001-07:00

I used EQ templates to make this block, trimmed with the Marti Michell corner.

Civil War #12 Louisiana

2011-03-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

I tried out Patti Anderson's No Waste Method for flying Geese with this block. Works pretty good. Go to http://www.patchpieces.com/files/flyinggeese.pdf to see it. Some day I will figure out how to imbed links!

After 12 blocks, thought seeing them all together would be nice.

Knitting - getting some of that done too

2011-03-17T23:07:00.001-07:00

Taking the bus to work is helping with my knitting. The scarf was done mostly on the bus, the sock and washcloth, not. But still, knitting is getting done too. Also been working on the KAL - Stripes Alive - no picture yet, but fun socks.

sock from the Little Box of socks

February mid-month knit-along

Jared Flood Noro Striped scarf - this is my second one, fun to make, each one is different, this is now half done.

In the Forest - Baby quilt

2011-03-17T23:03:00.001-07:00

I think this is the last baby quilt for a while, at least I don't know of any that need to be made! This is just the top, need to figure out how to quilt it next.

Civil War Chronicles BOM 3

2011-03-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

I did the month 3 blocks before two, here they are:

Month 2 is cut out - should be done soon.

Civil War BOW update

2011-03-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

Block 9 was Birds in the Air

I did blocks 10 and 11 last Saturday, Lincoln's Platform and London Square.

all caught up until Saturday!

Knit along and socks too

2011-02-23T00:54:00.001-08:00

The Skacel KAL fingerless mitts are done! Now I am working on a second pair for my daughter.

Also finished the second sock of the Opal Masked Ball yarn. Yeah, another blue pair of socks.

Civil War Block 8 - Cotton Boll

2011-02-20T01:42:00.000-08:00

Barbara talked about stripes, and I don't have many Civil War stripes, but I had this in my stack of fabrics, which is stripe-y, so I used it. In order to get stripes that do something I ended up with bias edges on the corners :(, oh well, I will be careful with it.
I used Marti Michell templates, cropping the 4" square to get the striped pieces. Should have lined things up better, but not redoing it.
Right now I think I will use log cabin blocks in the four corners, made with 1" strips.

February border done - Stars for a New Day

2011-02-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

It's growing! Got the border for February done today (although I still need to make the sawtooth stars for the final border). After March, won't see much except blocks, blocks and more blocks, 6" blocks and 4" sawtooth stars. I am going to try a new to me method for Flying Geese for the Sawtooth stars. You'll see the results soon! How I wish I had more of a few of these fabrics, but this quilt is going to be made with what I currently have, and believe me, I have enough for this quilt. But I do love the paisley I used for the center star, and would like to use it as a floating border in the next round, if I have enough. Hope so!

Brackman Civil War - Log Cabin

2011-02-12T22:54:00.001-08:00

A nice easy one, Log Cabin for Lincoln and Uncle Tom's Cabin/Harriet Beecher Stowe. Paper pieced, since again, 6 does not divide nicely into 8 (for rotary cutting).

Richmond - Civil War BOW

2011-02-06T12:37:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned how much I love EQ? Without it, this block would never have come out as good as it is. A nine patch in 8" does not come out evenly! EQ templates are perfect, so after pulling the Richmond block into my project, I printed templates and used them for cutting. Since this is just squares and triangles, it is easy enough to piece without marking seam lines, so I put double sided tape on the back of the templates, laid the quarter inch line of the ruler on the seam line and cut out two or four pieces of fabric at a time (except the center, only needed one of those!). I layered the red and cream right sides together before cutting so they were ready to sew. I did trim the triangle tips with a Marti Michell triangle to make it easy to line up the triangles with the four patches.

Civil War Chronicles

2011-02-06T11:58:00.001-08:00

This seems to be the year for Civil War Quilts. Maybe the sesquicentennial of the Civil War has something to do with it. Anyway, I am taking part in the Civil War Chronicles BOM, BOM 1 - Troubled Times is done. Just picked up BOM 2 and 3 from my LQS, they each have four blocks to do, which are the same, but still, now have eight blocks to make before the next packet is picked up! Need to pre-wash the fabric, then I can start cutting.
As per usual, I am drafting this in EQ and using Marti Michell templates when I can, which for this block was for everything except the center square. That I printed from EQ. This is a 16" block.

Knitting - socks and mitts

2011-02-06T11:46:00.001-08:00

In addition to quilting, I have been knitting. In January I heard about the Trekking KAL sponsored by Zitron and Skacel, and led by Michelle Hunter (KnitPurlHunter.com). I started late with the January KAL, and ripped out the first attempt. I decided that two circular needles would be easier, got some, finally, changed yarn, and started again. Meanwhile, I started a simple sock to take along with me when I go places, using Opal Masked Ball color 3005. So when the KAL got to the heel (and my KAL sock wasn't there yet, still isn't), I tried the new-to-me technique of short rows. You can see it was a success! I really like these, no picking up of stitches after the heel flap! One down, one on the needles, barely started but a couple of rounds done. Meanwhile my January KAL sock is about to be ripped out again, more practice for knit from the toe up.

The February project for the KAL is fingerless mitts, more learning, but KnitPurlHunter has great videos on her website, making it pretty easy to learn the new techniques. I have Part one done for the first mitt, and started for the second. I hope to keep up with this one and have them both done by the end of February.

Blissful Yellow Brick Road

2011-02-01T22:11:00.001-08:00

Baby quilt is done, a bit larger than my typical baby quilt, almost 50" by almost 60". The most fun part about this was the fabric and the quilting. Did two overall designs, one in the center and another in the border.

Civil War BOW #5 Kansas Troubles

2011-01-30T18:43:00.001-08:00

Kansas Troubles certainly was trouble, why do I have such trouble with this block, always seem to use that seam ripper way more often than I should! But it is done, and done is good!

Yellow Brick Road baby quilt

2011-01-23T16:24:00.000-08:00

I've been working on another baby quilt this week, another Yellow Brick road. This one was done with Moda's Bliss fabric, which I think will coordinate nicely with the bedding selected by her parents (yes, a baby girl!). Been piecing the backing using the leftovers from the front, this one is a modified log cabin with varying log widths. Just one more log to add, then baste and quilt.

Texas Tears - week 4 Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt

2011-01-23T16:19:00.000-08:00

Another not so easy block to cut, although piecing was pretty easy. This is essentially a block worked on a 6 unit grid, which doesn't convert to 8" very precisely. I used EQ to create templates, marked the sewing line and then sewed it. Very similar to a block in Jane Stickle's quilt, done during the Civil War.

Stars for a New Day begun

2011-01-17T00:10:00.001-08:00

In 2009, The Quilt Show had a block of the month that I loved, Stars for a New Day, designed by Sue Garmon. I gathered fabric for it (initially from stash, but supplemented), but had too much on my plate to actually start it. But I saved the patterns for it and looked at what other people were doing, and now I am actually starting it!

Mine will be blue and white. The setting triangles were my starting point for fabric color. This is my first feathered star, and I must say that Sue Garmon's instructions made it pretty easy, relatively speaking

Civil War BOW #3 Seven Sisters

2011-01-17T00:06:00.000-08:00

Imagine my surprise when I saw the BOW for this week! so far, the BOWs had been pretty simple piecing, no sweat to add to my things to do list. This week was not so simple, seven tiny-ish stars to applique. It is done.

Civil War North Star - block 2

2011-01-08T16:06:00.001-08:00

Barbara Brackman posted her second BOW this morning, and I made it this afternoon. (link to her page on the side)
Once again I used Marti Michell templates, B-8 (4" square for center), B-12 (2" square for corners), B-11 (4" quarter square triangle) and B-13 (2" half square triangle).

Cut one B-8, 4 B-11 (background), 4 B-11 (background) and 8 B-13 (star points) (4 are hiding)

Assemble flying geese units, pressing towards star points
Assemble rows, pressing away from flying Geese unit, then stitch rows together (I pressed away from the center row)
Two done!

Civil War Quilt

2011-01-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

Barbara Brackman is starting a new Block of the week on her blog, http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/ I debated about starting it, my Civil War fabric was hard to get to, then I stumbled across a stack of Mary Koval for Blank Quilting fabric from 2007 - and it spoke to me. I did add the red fabric (an old Elly Sienkiewicz Baltimore Beauties) that I have had for a while. Eventually things work!
This is block #1, Catch Me if you can. The blocks are 8", I used Marti Michell templates B-11 and B-13, assembling it in quarters, then stitching the quarters together, and finally, the block.

Gingko Leaves

2011-01-02T13:10:00.001-08:00

My first machine applique in a long time, mostly pretty good. My thread got caught up and caused some puckering in part of it, need to watch for that in the future. This is a pattern from Jill Rixman (www.artfullyapplique.com) that I have had for years. I love the look of Japanese Kamon in applique, also love gingko leaves. Ginko leaves are also popular in the Arts and Crafts movement, which is another favorite of mine.

"Plaid" quilt

2011-01-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

A quilt for my grandson who wanted a green and black plaid quilt. You think this will work? so far it is just a top, not sure if I will quilt it or send it out to a long arm quilter. Still need to figure out backing, but it will be a wool batting (have a roll of that). It is roughly 90" x 100" and will have a 1/2" black binding when done (sashing is also 1/2"), I think. Might do the green in a skinnier binding.

new sewing room

2011-01-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

All of the pieces are in my new sewing room! Not all organized, but they are here. Got the Kvartal room divider up today that will hold quilts to be photographed or a felt design wall (as needed).

Bernina 630 and computer center - up until recently this was the only sewing station in here.

But now I have a new sewing cabinet, delivered shortly after Thanksgiving, which houses my Bernina 200. I haven't been sewing on it lately since I hated moving it in and out of the Koala cabinet, now I don't have to do that anymore. I have the center of the Quilt Show 2009 block of the month cut out and ready to sew next to the machine. I want to get it done this year!
Then I have a prep table, with a pressing board for preparing applique ala so many people! Pearl Pereira, Karen Kay Buckley, and me . Want to get back to that too. Pearl's Christmas Baltimore is waiting for me to start! Before that I am going to practice on a block with larger pieces, a gingko leaf design by Jill Rixman, a designing woman. Pearl's pieces are small, want to practice first!

A Christmas present was the TV that is now mounted on the wall, can be swiveled to watch at different places, and has a Wii attached (so I can exercise in here too!) I had to move a few things around to make room for that, but think it will work out great. The Wii Fit platform is stored under the Hemnes cabinet to the left of the TV. You can also see a few more plastic storage boxes that didn't fit into the storage cabinets, more under the prep table too. Need to use up some fabric before I can get anymore!

The outside entry to this room, still need to clean up the stuff in the driveway (which you can't see, thank goodness) and my corner cabinet.
The armoire that is now holding clothing fabric and large bits, lots of backgrounds, but a few other things too. On top is more storage, the lightbox should get moved to the applique prep area, where it will be used.
And finally, the cutting table, pretty large, so now I can cut out clothes! Not making too many right now, as I am also trying to lose weight. 35 pounds are gone, at least another 30 to go. Once they are gone I will see where I am size wise. Weight Watchers, in case you are wondering. A bit stalled over the holiday season, but with the New Year I am re-motivated to get rid of this excess flab.

Yellow Brick road and Noel quilts

2010-12-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

Life has been busy the last month, went to the Houston Quilt Festival and made two (small and easy) quilts. In the middle of October I went to the Pacific International Quilt Festival and picked up the Noel quilt kit. I had seen it in various magazines and fell in love with the center panel. Once I got the kit I discovered the pattern called for fusing the triangles to the squares to make the trees. Not happening. I used the Tri rec tool to make them instead, much happier without the raw edge applique! Squaring up the center panel was a bit tricky, since it was warped, but I managed in the end. Quilting was another adventure, how to do it? Finally went with "in the ditch", only the ditch is really the printed lines for the most part, and a tree shape in the tree blocks.

A friend of mine decided to make a Yellow Brick Road (Atkinson Designs) for a baby quilt, so when I needed to make a baby quilt too, this pattern was already in my brain. I made a large one a year or so ago, so I found my pattern, some fat quarters, and went to work. I used 10 fat quarters to get a decent sized baby quilt with no borders, then another 8 fat quarters and leftover bits from the front to piece the back. After quilting and trimming the backing I used the trimmed bits to make the binding. Love the fabric, was going to use it for a pieced bit of clothing, but I think it is perfect for a little girl's quilt. Quilted with Warm and Natural batting, King Tut #905 thread on the top and Masterpiece #147 on the back.

Farmer's wife Sampler blocks are done!

2010-10-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

When I get close to the end of the block piecing I tend to have a final spurt of energy, and so it was with FWS. A variety of methods were used, but mostly using Marti Michell templates, and a bit of strip piecing, and finally paper pieced about three of them.
This top picture shows all of them on my new design "shade", the vanishing design wall. It pulls down quite a ways more (twice as long as it is wide), but not so easily with the sewing cabinet in front of it!

Baby quilt done

2010-10-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

Another baby quilt from Lickety-Split Quilts for Little Ones by Laurie Bevan, this one started square, but got turned rectangular by adding another row on the top and the bottom. I played around in EQ before deciding on this variation. Fabrics are Kaffe Fassett's Roman Glass (two colorways) and Splash (Blank textiles).
Believe it or not, I mostly used Marti Michell templates for this quilt, except for the large center square and the large quarter square triangles, those I printed from EQ and used a MM template to trim the points so all the pieces went together nicely (without rabbit ears).

Placemats and shutters

2010-10-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Placemats are ready to be quilted! I made two variations, four each. Now to decide how to quilt them. I decided to bind them after all, rather than flip inside with a turning hole. Still debating on the binding fabric, but it could easily be the lightest fabric, which is also the napkins. Need more wooly thread for the serger, it takes two and I only have one spool each of two possible colors (which aren't quite the colors either). The checked fabric is the backing for six of the placemats. Need something for the other two.

You can barely see my new mats (from Martelli), gotten at PIQF. They cover the table nicely (moved the Alto cutting system to the old cutting table). they have different colors on each side, yellow for dark and purple for light. So far I like them a lot.
The shutters are installed! Now I don't live in a fishbowl when in the sewing room. It is a converted garage, so faces the street, and cardboard in the windows was getting old. Also have the track lighting installed. You can't see it in the dark picture at the bottom, but it goes around the room, lighting the work areas and the storage cabinets, with three different controls, which are also dim-able.

Last night I was looking at Annie Smith's blog (http://simplearts.com/blogs/), and she said it took her two weeks, 40 hours per week, to sort through her stash. So I figure it will take me to the end of the year, since I also have a day job. Which I better get to!

Placemats

2010-10-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

While sorting through things I rediscovered the fabric I bought a "while back". I used some of it to make the triangle table runner late last year (I think) and hoped to make some placemats and napkins with the rest of it. Rather than just storing it again, I decided to just do it! found a very easy placemat idea online and went for it. I needed another fabric in order to make 8 placemats with the same coloring, but found some in the stash pretty quickly. One is pieced, and one is partially sewn, and the rest are cut into strips. I cut the strips with my Martelli rotary cutter, 8 layers of fabric, and used the Alto cutting system. Made very quick work of the cutting, love it! No pictures yet, but soon. I'll need to dig out the serger for the napkins. Retiring some placemats the other day probably helped me along in the decision to make some more. And now I don't need to find a place to store that fabric!
"http://www.quiltcetera.com/Tutorials/Tutorials/placemats.html" is where I found the placemat pattern.

Sewing room usable

2010-10-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

Progress has been made! While not everything has been sorted and put away, OK, very little sorted, and a bunch put away, I can actually start sewing in here. The cutting table has been cleared, the Alto has a space, along with the other mats on top of the new cutting island. I'd like the mats to fit better, but they will work. You can see the old cutting island (buffet) in the back of the picture. You can see it is taller than the new island, but DH says he can lift the new one to be the same height. At some point the buffet will turn into a pressing station, I think. The plywood on top of it will be trimmed and turned into a large pressing board.
The quilt hanging from the cabinets is trying to inspire a quilting design. Finished the top ages ago, but never quilted it.

Right now I put my pressing board on top of several project totes, which is close by the sewing station. A couple of things are actually there now, the pressing board and a June Tailor Square n' Block, which doesn't really work for pressing all that well (too cushy), but I do use it for a small design wall. The hole between the totes gives access to the plug outlet in the floor. My Civil War Diary and Baltimore Christmas stuff are in the small satchels between the totes.

Sewing station with easy access to the computer. I watch DVDs on it now, someday will get a TV in here too. Still need to bring in the printer. In back of the monitor, more totes with projects to be started.

The back side of the cutting table, finally found a spot where the file boxes can go. Thread on the floor was displaced with the boxes, it needs to find a new home.

The room is shaping up, now to sew a bit!

Sewing Room coming along

2010-09-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

The room being filled with fabric totes, and my treadle base I use as an end table. I do have the machine, but need to work on it to get it to sew. I actually have another working treadle, but it is staying in the living room for the time being.

The entry way to the room, the rug will be moved closer to the cabinets when they are done, and will have my rocking chair on it. Right now it is being used as padding while my DH assembles furniture.

My DH has been very busy assembling furniture from IKEA. One of the first things he built was the VARDE kitchen cabinet with all of the drawers. It has another piece backing it with shelves and will be my cutting island. The drawers have a lot of thread in them so far, and my Bernina accessories, manuals, Marti Michell templates, other specialized templates, and two empty drawers.

You can see the fabric storage cabinets, one more to go, then I need to figure out how to store all of the stuff I want to keep in this room. Some will have to go . At the end of the storage cabinets is a HEMNES bookcase. Another one, with glass doors, is at the opposite end of the room.
Too many magazines, will be purging them too, keeping anything that looks interesting in sheet protectors in a binder. Haven't done that for about 7 years, time to do it again!

A quilt finish

2010-09-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

We are having a fundraiser at work to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank and Toys for Tots. Since I work in the space biz, I thought the space panel would be a good jumping off point.

It is only a panel, and I wanted lap size, so played around in EQ and came up with an Attic Windows layout. The Stonehenge fabric worked perfectly with the colors in the panel (used for the window frame).

I like a skinny border before the final border, but didn't want to find more fabric for this, so went with the double skinny border, and I like it! When it got put on the center, I sewed the border strips together first, pressing some in and some out, so when I mitered the corners they snugged together nicely. I give it away on Thursday, hopefully to a good home.

Sewing Room update

2010-09-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today we got doors! They are not finished yet, still in the raw state, but there are locks on the outside doors and I can now walk from the house into the sewing room without going outside.
New front door, we have been wanting one for a while, new light will replace the dangling one... We are replacing the ugly rock with brick and stucco, so far only the rock has been removed. Soon you won't see the old insulation coming out of the framing.

This is the side door into the sewing room, where my friends can come without going through the house.

This is the door from the porch to the utility room, not exciting.

Finally, a door from the house into the sewing room, so I can sew in my jammies.

The room was also painted a lovely shade of blue, precious dewdrop. But, they neglected to prime the old wall, and it needed it. So, we will see what they do now.

Farmer's Wife Sampler - 96 done now!

2010-09-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

Three of these I finished last weekend, and three I finished today.
67 Pine Tree was done with paper piecing.

74 Ribbons - used marti Michell templates, trimming a rectangle to get the paralleogram. I pressed the lighter parellogram out, and the darker one in, so that piecing them together went together pretty easily.

76 Sawtooth - Paper pieced

77 Seasons - debated about templates, but went with paper piecing.

98 Waterwheel - Marti Michell templates

99 W.C.T.U (Women's Christian Temperance Union) - Cut with Marti Michell Templates.

Sewing Room Status

2010-09-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

Still no doors, but they did get delivered on Friday and I have hopes that they will be installed next week. And also the walls and ceiling should get painted. I picked out Precious Dewdrop (Kelly Moore) for the walls, and Swiss coffee for the trim and ceiling. Storage shrunk a little with the extension into the room that is around the electrical box. There will be a bookcase in front of it, and then the high cabinets (probably from IKEA) that will hold all of the boxes of fabric that are currently in back of my couch. Lots of boxes.
Right now I am thinking about switching the orientation of my sewing cabinet, so that it faces the room, and the TV. Will need to play around with the layout to see if that will work.

90 blocks done for the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt

2010-08-22T19:45:00.001-07:00

Plugging away here and there, here are some of the latest attempts.
64 Peace and Plenty - made up of lots of 1 1/2" HST (and so is the next block). For a change of pace, I didn't use Marti Michell templates. Instead I cut squares 2 1/2" of each fabric, put right sides together, stitched 1/4" from the center diagonal line (both sides), cut down the center (between the stitching lines), pressed open and trimmed the sort of square to a perfect 2" square (to finish at 1 1/2"). They were then laid out and pieced together using a scant 1/4" seam. Mostly I pressed to the dark side when pressing the HSTs open, except for the corner squares in Peace and Plenty. The pressing worked much better if those squares were pressed to the light side (so the seams nested together when piecing the two squares together).

62 Old Windmill

60 Noon and Light - Marti Michell templates - Background pieces are (finished sizes) 1 1/2" squares (A-5), 1 1/2" QST (A-7) and 1 1/2" HSTs (A-6) in the center. Red triangles are also 1 1/2" QST (A-7). For the diagonal strips I used a 3" HST and then cropped the corner with A-7.

58 Mother's Dream - I used a border print for the background green bit and wanted the lines in it to go around the block, so I pieced the corner HSTs using two QSTs. Marti Michell templates where I could and templates from EQ when I couldn't (the rectangles). The center square is a 3" diagonal square (A-3), large setting triangle is a 3" QST (A-4) and the corners would be a 1 1/2" HST (A-6), but I pieced together two 1 1/2" QSTs (A-7) instead.

47 Homemaker - I used templates I printed from EQ, put double sided tape on the back of the template, placed it on the fabric and used a small rotary ruler placed with the 1/4" line on the seam line to cut. I did mark the seam lines so I could do the Y-seams. (I showed this block before, but it was a terrible picture!)

46 Hill and Valley - more Marti Michell templates, the large triangles are 3" HST (A2), the green HSTs are 2" HST (B-13), the smallest green triangles & brown triangles are 2" Quarter square triangles (B-14), and the square on the diagonal measures 2" on the diagonal (D-28).

45 Grape Basket is a Five patch block, so I paper pieced it.

Sewing room status

2010-08-15T22:08:00.001-07:00

I was hoping the new sewing room would be farther along than it is by now, but I do have a sub-floor.
There has been progress, from DH old shop, where the remnants have been staying for a while, and this was taken after a concerted effort to get the junk out!

to a mostly cleared out garage

To a room with windows instead of garage doors

To insulation under the flooring (which isn't there yet!) This picture was taken from the corner where an outside door will be, so friends can come over without tromping through the house. The opening into the house isn't there yet, but will be next to the utility room (in the sewing room).

This is the current state of the room. You can see a new wall, one of two, that will be built to enclose the heater and water heater (aka the utility room). The hanging silver ventilation ducts will be providing heat and air conditioning to the new room.

As you can see, there is still a ways to go! Walls, a hole punched through to the house and made into a door, one of four new doors in this space, a ceiling, flooring, and more electrical work, among other things.
Then comes the furnishing. It will get the furniture from the old sewing room, but also needs storage cabinets. I am still trying to decide what to put where. The long wall without windows will be the primary storage wall, with sliding design walls in front of shelving. My Koala sewing table will be against the new wall (small window to my right as I am sitting at the sewing machine). I want to put wall cabinets above it (like I had in the old sewing room), with under cabinet lighting. That worked well before. I know basically what I want, but not where to get it! Still deciding on that.

Been Too Long

2010-07-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since the last time I blogged, a quilt retreat, a trip to Ashland to the Shakespeare Festival, and some sewing. But the biggest news is I am actually getting a sewing studio!
DS got out of the Marines, and is home and going to college. So, the extra bedroom/old sewing studio got reclaimed as a bedroom. I spent much of May packing up the sewing room. It is now being stored in the living room, and not much space to actually sew. But I have a little cutting area set up in the living room and my sewing machine set up in the kitchen.
Some progress is being made on the Farmer's Wife Sampler, 75 blocks done now, here are a few of them.

Then I also got some Civil War Diary blocks done, up to 18 now, plus a few more cut out.
And a baby quilt! Plus another one that is pieced but not quilted. So, I guess I have been busier than I remember :)

FWS blocks - Four Winds, Gentleman's Fancy and Friendship Block

2010-05-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

I got three blocks done today - athough the first has been in progress for a few days...
Block #38 Four Winds - paper pieced

Block #40 Friendship block - MM templates and paper templates for FWS templates #27 and 28

Block #44 Gentleman's Fancy - paper pieced

66 blocks done!

Knitting - socks and washclothes

2010-04-25T22:15:00.001-07:00

I am getting a bit more adventurous with my socks. These are from Knitty - Sunday Swing by Kristel Nyberg. Yarn is Lorna's Laces Parry Hotter in Gryffindor colors. I made a simple pair for me a while back, these are for my daughter (foot model).

The washcloth is this months mid-month Knit-along. I made it a bit longer, using Peaches and Cream color 172 Newport. I love how the colors made a strippy look! Totally serendipity :)

FWS BOW #28 Silver Lane

2010-04-25T22:09:00.001-07:00

This is block number 79 in the book, and my 62nd, Silver Lane. I used Marti Michell templates B14 (larger triangle on the outer edge), N79 (square) and D29 (small triangle). The parallelogram could be made with D29, but I just used it to trim the tips, using a paper template stuck to the fabric with double sided tape to cut the basic shape (placing a small ruler's quarter inch line on the sewing line and then trimming each side with a rotary cutter). The red 1" x 2" rectangles were rotary cut (1.5" x 2.5").

Catching up with Farmer's Wife Sampler Blocks

2010-04-18T12:10:00.001-07:00

The week I really started getting behind was with Wood Lily, BOW #22. It got started with paper piecing, then I didn't like the fabrics and restarted with templates.

The following week (BOW #23) was Spider Legs, and I still didn't have Wood Lily done. Wood Lily got done on 4 April, then Spider Legs on 11 April.

BOW #24 was Buzzard's Roost, which I had already done (Yeah!)
BOW #25 was Northern Lights, finally a nice easy block! It got done on 4 April, before I started Spider Legs in catch-up mode.

BOW #26 was Flower Pot, also finished on 11 April. This used templates, all those unusual shapes made me do it.

BOW #27 was Garden Path, finished on 17 April 2010. Marti Michell templates.

Knitting

2010-03-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of March I started a Sock Club with a friend of mine. We have lots of sock yarn, so made up 5 bags each with a pattern to make a pair of socks every other month. I finished my first pair, a lovely light blue I got last year at Stitches West from Miss Babs (Yummy, and it is to knit with!), and learned how to make baby cables while I was at it.

Then, I also joined a Yahoo group for a dishcloth KAL (knit a long). I thought it would help me with reading patterns (it has). So far I have six (yes six) washcloths/dishclothes to show for it. Some will be Christmas gifts, others I will keep.

Quilting has been taking a back seat this month.

Sewing Room

2010-02-28T22:02:00.001-08:00

I have been using an extra bedroom off and on as a sewing room since we moved into this house in 1992. It is ~12' x 14' (but that includes the closet space and door swing next to it). It is a good sized room and I am lucky to have it. Soon, however, it needs to be turned back into a bedroom. And we are converting our old garage into my new studio. So far, it is all just a paper dream, but we do have a contractor and I hope to be totally in it by June. The new room will be 19' x 21.5', except we need to remove part of that for the room where the furnace and water heater are located (~8.5' x 7'). So a lot bigger, but it will be an empty room, no closet. I currently have quite a bit stuffed into the closet. So I will be prioritizing what I will keep before it goes into the new room. What I still need to figure out is what to use for storage along the longest wall. I'd like something about 15" deep, with doors. I plan on having a sliding design wall in front of the storage cabinets, but want doors anyway. Anyone have some wonderful cabinets that can go floor to ceiling and handle the weight of fabric they can recommend?
For comparison, here is my current space: I sew on a Bernina housed in a Koala Outback Plus, unfortunately no room to have the extension raised on the back.

We installed kitchen wall cabinets so I have storage over the machine. Right over my head is some of my thread (machine embroidery and hand applique)

My design wall is attached to the closet doors, works pretty well unless I have a very large quilt! Right now my finished Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks are on the wall. Hanging on the wall next to it are my embroidery hoops (in the white hanging thing).

In the center of the room is my cutting table. It is also holding my printer right now, and some of the rulers. I can walk around it on three sides. Off to the right you can see my computer and a small bookcase, which does not hold all of my quilting books. It will be nice to have them all together in the new room.

I have an embaressment of riches when it comes to fabric.

In back of the door is a pegboard which holds my hand quilting templates, lots of my rotary cutting rulers, and the occasional bit of mending (or pants that need hemming).

The armoire has several large pieces in it, along with some specific things (a few PIGs, bilaterally symmetrical fabric for kaleidoscopes, and background fabric).

The closet used to be sorted by color, along with some plastic totes with PIGs and UFOs. Now it is less organized.

Not exactly a showplace of a sewing room, but I do manage to get things done in it.

Civil War Diary blocks

2010-02-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get more done on this small quilt group project. We met, and I realized I didn't have anything new to show. So these will be my focus for a while (although I will still do the BOW for the Farmer's Wife Sampler).
Anxieties - paper pieced

Rachel's Frustrations - pieced with Marti Michell templates A4, A5, and A6

Farmer's Wife Sampler - catching up the blog

2010-02-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

While I have been doing a bit on Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks, I have mostly been knitting, and watching the Olympics. Here are the blocks I have finished since I last posted:
35 Flower Basket

36 Flower Garden Path

42 Fruit Basket

48 Homeward Bound 21st BOW - completed 2/28/2010

56 Maple Leaf 19th BOW - completed 2/15/2010

63 Ozark Maple Leaf 20th BOW - completed 2/28/2010

96 - Tulip 18th BOW - completed 2/14/2010

FWS blocks-Honeycomb, Farmer's Puzzle and Wild Rose and Square

2010-02-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

Honeycomb was this weeks Block of the Week (BOW). I opted to print templates using EQ6 for this block, after I took out the center seams so two skinny triangles became one isosceles triangle. I made holes at the corner intersections with my 1/16” hole punch in each template. I cut strips first, to slightly wider than my templates. I cut out each fabric piece by placing double sided tape on the back of the paper template, then after sticking it to the fabric, used my rotary cutting ruler (4” square) to cut ¼” from the seam lines. I marked the corners with a pencil (through that hole I punched earlier). I used positioning pins on those points to align the odd shapes and pieced a row at a time, then sewed the rows together. Make sure your seams go in opposite directions from the row above or below and they will nest together nicely when stitching rows together.

I paper pieced Farmer's Puzzle from EQ6 printed patterns.

Not so happy with this block, don't like the fabrics in it, well I do, but they don't have the right values for their positions. I paper pieced it, in rows, and reversed the direction of piecing on each row so the rows nested nicely when stitching them together. That part went well. Sigh...

FWS - Bird blocks and BOW #15

2010-01-18T00:11:00.001-08:00

Today I managed to get four more blocks done, mostly blocks with bird names (Flock, Hovering Birds, Hovering Hawks) and BOW #15 - Snowball. I am trying to just go in order, more or less, but once I started cutting out Flock (34) I wanted to use those Marti Michell templates again, and the next blocks I could use them for were for Hovering Birds (51) and Hovering Hawks (52). So, bird blocks. These were done with the A set, A2 (large triangle), A5 (square), A6 (small triangle) and one from the C set, C20, the odd shape in Hovering Hawks.

The BOW for this week is Snowball (81), a nice easy block made using our old standbys B12 and B13. They sure get used a lot in this quilt!

Farmer's Wife Sampler - 47 done, 66 to go

Knitting

2010-01-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

Lately it seems knitting rather than quilting/piecing has consumed my life. I got some fabulous yarn the other day, Arucania (70% merino wool, 20% alpaca, and 10% silk), handpainted in shades of brown. This got turned into a scarf and pull-on hat in record time. Part of that, I am sure, has to do with the fact that a friend lent me the Battlestar Galactica series on DVD and I have been glued to the TV, rather than my sewing machine. Watching a whole series at once has some advantages. Like not having to wait a week or months for the next episode! I used a pattern for the scarf, then having a bunch of yarn left decided to make a pull-on hat, kind of made that one up as I went along, after looking at several hat patterns. I have a bit more yarn left, maybe some fingerless mitts?

Then I have also been continuing with socks. I have another pair on the needles right now (a very dark blue with flecks of lighter blue and teal, alpaca and wool) that is giving me fits because I cannot see the stitches very well, too dark and too small. So I managed to make a mistake about four rows back and will be undoing that shortly (in my chair with the bright light and magnifying glass!) Shown is the pair I recently finished, Opal yarn, Harry Potter - Ron coloring. Fun to wear . And I got the self-striping yarn to match up pretty good too!

Fabric Choices

2010-01-06T22:55:00.001-08:00

I have quite an extensive fabric stash (quite an understatement, really, since I have been collecting it for over 20 years, the quilting fabric that is, and some is older). Anyway, sometimes I go on a tangent and get types of fabric. 1800s, 1930s, Christmas, patriotic, blues (always!), Asian, and then one day when I was at a quilt show I saw taupes. I saw taupe quilts and taupe kits and taupe fabrics. I got some fat quarters. At another show I got another bundle. I started putting them in their own plastic container. I got more, along with some that are not strictly speaking taupe. When I decided to make the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt, that plastic container was my pallete. I have added a few fat quarters, and won't use some, but that is what is guiding the fabric choices for this quilt.

When I made Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, I took the book into a store, found Dorothea's collection and decided that would be the basis of my choices for that quilt. Quite a few of the fabrics are from that line, but I went further afield in the store and collected others, and then I added from stash, including what became the background fabrics. The border fabric was my inspiration, and it actually made it as the border (doesn't always happen). At the time I thought I would be picking my own blocks, Jennifer hadn't started putting blocks on the web yet. It made it a lot easier when she did that, and published the SBS book!

Every quilt I make, the fabric choice is unique, from what is picked to how I pick it.