Plodding Along

I spent all of yesterday trying to get these first two borders in. Only two more to go.

Two more borders to go

As promised...

Here is Hazel at 18 weeks.

18 weeks yesterday

I think she's going to be a bit bigger then the 40 or so pounds we were expecting. Jim is guessing she's over 30 pounds right now. 

I watched a YouTube video on a golden doodle named Theo who is Hazels twin, I swear. And her growth is exactly matching his. As well as many of her personality traits. They are such kind and loving dogs and Theo was much larger then 40 pounds so I think we are in store for more of a big dog at maturity rather then a medium dog we had expected. Which is fine. Size wasn't a consideration. It would just be nice to be in the know for the future. 

Milestones

When a person accomplishes something they thought as their "Everest", the feeling is indescribable.

This was one of those moments for me.

Dream Big in Black and White

Yes, the panel is actually done in black and white. It wasn't just me doing that with my camera.

Details about this accomplishment:

Done on a Handi Quilt Fusion in manual mode at about 46%
Bobbin Thread: Sew Fine! #503 by Superior Threads
Top Thread: Magnifico #2165 (Silver) by Superior Threads
Batting: Two layers; the bottom is an 80/20 Dream Blend. The top is Hobbs Heirloom Wool
Hours to Accomplish: About 10 to include pressing and loading

I have another panel like this done in the aqua/blue color way. Katie got it for me for my birthday and I've looked at it now for over two months trying to decide what to do. While the one above is mostly feathers and their rendition thereof, the next one will be a mixed bag.

Meanwhile, today is Hazel's 19-week birthday. A picture today is in the plans as well as a variety of other projects happening in here.

Menopause Sucks!

Just sayin'. Hot flashes. Sleepless nights. Acne. Mood Swings. I feel like I'm back into the puberty years.

Despite all the physical changes happening to the body, we march on.

During the week, after getting my HOPE challenge done, I've pictorially recorded what I've been up to so I would remember what it was when I blogged again. I didn't know if later blogs would "bog" down the HOPE votes, so I didn't post for a few days to avoid voting confusion.

These two go together. I'm (finally) using a solids jelly roll I've had for a while

Beginning a few placemats

Dream Big

The last entry was loaded and started yesterday. Here's a better pic of what was completed before closing up for the night.

Love the texture

I'll work on all of these this week, as well as the Stripe Me Happy top. The sashing strips have been added all around and Katie figured out how to get the flying geese in the remaining three border strips that need to be added. I love Katie! But before those three flying geese borders are added, a narrow border needs to be put on to separate the two. This sure is one busy top I'm making!

The last sashing strip was set into the Tula 100 Blocks top, and now it's ready to head to the long arm...once the Dream Big panel is completed.

H.O.P.E. Challenge

It's actually called the Hope Springs Eternal-Challenge 1 of Project Quilting Season 10.

This is my first season. This is my first entry. This was so much fun to do.

While I have plenty of other goodies in my bag to create and do, it was fun to just park those off to the side for a day and have fun with scraps, letters, appliqué, quilting, and then finding a way to present the finished project.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning. First a decision needed to be made (because plenty of ideas were rattling around in my head), WHAT exactly should be created. Since the ideas rattled around probably a day (or two) longer than should have, a clean and concise project was decided upon.

Starting out:

From the "White" bucket

All my little scraps are kept in buckets on a rotating stand. With the previous project, I was able to reduce all but the whites/off whites (and the browns) down to less-than-overflowing amount. I decided to make fabric out of some of the whites/off whites for the base of my message to reduce them somewhat as well.

Next:

Two blocks down. Two to go.

Making four fabric background blocks to put the letters on.

Oops!

Enough?

I needed to fuse the letters to the background blocks and this is all the fusible that was left in my supply. There are no resources nearby to acquire anymore because we live pretty remotely. Part of creation sometimes is making due.

After working through the fusible shortage:

Making the letters freehand and sizing them correctly

Each letter is individually appliquéd down with a different stitch.

A star stitch for the "O"

After trimming off threads, the blocks needed to be quilted. They could have been done on my home sewing machine, or put onto the long arm. Long arming gets me off my behind, so decided to go that route.

Echo quilting around each letter

After trimming and deciding on how to finish the blocks, a hanger was applied for display. The blocks are left without a formal binding and a zig-zag stitch around each of them was applied instead. I didn't want to detract from the letters and couldn't decide on a binding color that wouldn't.

H.O.P.E.

This will be a gift for next Christmas. I have a son and daughter-in-law who had a child born with a digestive abnormality. She spent her first month of life in the NICU and they never gave up hope on Hannah. She is now a thriving two-year old who loves to dote on her new baby brother.

It was great to use some of the left over scraps hanging around in the studio. It was fun to quickly come up with something and then use many of the resources available to textile artists today. It was not fun losing sleep over trying to decide which of the many ideas bouncing around in my head would be created in a short amount of time, and still be something proud to make, give away, and display. But I think the kids will enjoy having this hanging in their home.

Moving Along Despite the Mud

Yesterday was two-fold. Clean the dog/studio from mud. Piece the striped quilt top. Here's where I was at around 5:00 last night.

The striped top

I still had one more row to go and after Jim finally got home, was able to get the sixth row added. Notice the photo bomber in the bottom right hand corner. I must say. If one is looking to reduce their scrap stash, this quilt will reduce it significantly.

Those buckets behind Hazel were overflowing prior to my starting this top. Each bucket has its own color and Jim installed a rotating device underneath the stand that holds the buckets up. I can easily twirl it around to get to the color needed for whatever is being worked on. The only color still pretty full is the browns and whites since my intention was to make the striped top brighter, and felt the white may be too stark of a contrast.

Not sure what today is going to bring in the studio. Mud recovery is well at hand and there is still plenty to do in that regard.

Enjoying Winter

This hasn't been a normal winter. So far. Freeze. Rain. Snow. Freeze. Rain. Snow. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

While I enjoy the milder temperatures, I do not enjoy a puppy, who likes to play in the mud, during this weird weather pattern we've experienced so far in northern Michigan. And, now she's growing out of her morning naps and has to be amused during most of the first two-thirds of the day. Like now. I'm playing tug-o-war with her while writing in my blog.

But I was able to finish this cute little piece yesterday during her afternoon siesta.

Moo!

I made another one similar to this for Ben a few years back and for some reason, thought I needed to make another for our house. Although, I haven't a clue where to put it now that it's done. 

I want to work on my striped blocks today, but we have more rain in the forecast and more milder temps until later tonight, so getting mud off Hazel and cleaning up her messes may be more in the cards. 

New Year, New News

So, let's get this out of the way first. Here's our baby girl.

Hazel at nearly 18 weeks

Apparently she'll mature at a much larger size then we originally thought, which is okay; closer to 75-90 pounds rather than the 40 we were lead to believe she would mature to.

Quilt Camp! I made this top.

Antelope Canyon

I constructed 36 blocks like these eight. I now have to play on the design wall to get them all together.

Scrap Buster for Sure!

Future project: Katie sent me a link this morning about a Project Quilting thingie. It sounds like fun.

Basically, you have a week to make something "quilty" focused around a word/theme and then post for a chance to win prizes and an opportunity to see what others are doing. I have to ask myself if I really need more things to do and I can't help but wonder just how much I need to make more "little" things that are of virtually no use to me around here. Getting a whole quilt done, start to finish, in a week is not where I want to venture into, and making more wallhangings just isn't what I need around here. I think I need to think about this further.