Something New

Aside from our new grand daughter entering the world, I've tried something new piecing-wise (the Luminary) and I wasn't all jazzed about the process. $15 wasted on a pattern that didn't bring me joy. I googled scrap/striped quilts yesterday and ran across this pattern...

It's not as pretty in black and white (I opted to not print in color), but stunning when completed.

The pattern cover

The pattern was relatively inexpensive, and it's a scrap buster for sure. I'm choosing to do mine in red, white, and blues, although, will probably make another once I figure out and feel comfortable for the way I'm putting it together.

Some initial pulls

I've only ever done one block using freezer paper in the FPP method. I'm a very avid FPP-er and have even taken classes (Judy Niemeyer) to solidify my love for the craft. However, burning through needles using paper, which dulls them, and removing all the papers, which is another step and hassle, wasn't the best part of it. 

Social media kept pointing me towards using freezer paper. I printed out all the blocks (37 of them) and then transferred what was printed onto freezer paper using good old fashioned pen and ruler. I watched a few videos on how to do this as it has been a while since trying it last.

The results are much more satisfying and here's the first block...

A win!

I've already started my second block because I think I'm hooked. I love working on this (unlike the luminary blocks) and was excited to get into the studio today to work on more. It looks like a simple string block, but if you look at the pattern, it's much more than that.

Here's today's Evelyn picture from Germany...

Isn't she just the cutest?

She definitely has her daddy's nose but looks a lot like a miniature Lia (her mom). 

Threads, Ahoy

I have switched back over to DW to work on Sharon's Floral Felicity top...

I've seen this one before

I'm going easy on the hopping foot rod and marking every line I'm quilting so I don't pressure it too much.

While working this piece, I noticed a LOT of threads...

Just one little area

The top is loaded with them, so a lot of stopping to pick off and clean up the next area. That increases my finish time for sure.

Today I'm working in the morning and then taking the rest of the day to "play". Jim has a game to watch later (we beat Oregon yesterday 74-64) and today we play Wisconsin at 1:00. Meanwhile, I've implemented the thought of not doing the parallelogram quilt and made this test block last night...

Shifting gears

Yep, I'm having much more fun working this piece then I was with that other confusing top. Rainy but warmer today. A great day to hang out and play around the house. 

Appeal Denied!

There's been a group formed trying to appeal the special assessment of our dam reconstruction. Until the appeal ruling came in, the dams were going to cease construction soon. We just received the ruling yesterday that the appeal was denied. Maybe the construction will continue now that we're past that?

Meanwhile, I had a new customer drop off yesterday morning. She was very nice and her previous long armer is out of the picture and therefore looking for another. She gave me her first (maybe a trial of sorts) to see how I do (I think). Another customer came and picked up in the mid-afternoon. 

Despite all the customer work, I was able to get Deb B's quilt finished. I'm loading a back now for the next one on Bernie. DW is all loaded and basted in and I'll be working on this today...

Another big one

Sorry about the pic. I didn't have the lights on when I was buzzing through shutting down the studio for the night.

After finishing Debs quilt, Jim was home and we needed to run over to get his truck. When we returned home I had every intention of working on Foster while Jim was mowing the lawn. Our eldest called and we were on the phone for over an hour. I did some quiet work while we chatted and ended up getting all the remaining pieces cut for the green scrappy quilt.

I was going to go and mow the girls' pen but Jim waved me off and so went in and put all the blocks together. They are all pieced and just waiting for me to set them into rows.

Ready for a retreat

I squirreled after looking down into my ruler area and found these...

Crumb blocks and a few 25-patches

I'll get some sashing around these and make them into smaller kids or dolly quilts. It was almost 9:00 before I left the studio and I never did get to the flag block I had intended to make. Maybe tonight? 

Pea Soup

It's a sure sign it's going to be a hot one today when letting the dogs out at 8:00 the temperatures are the same outside as they are in; 75 degrees. 

The humidity outside is much higher than in the house though making it feel like pea soup out there. We're cold weather people and this really affects Jim. I hope he stays hydrated out there working in the field.

Customer bags. I'm now making customer bags to help eliminate the scrap pile I have. I worked on about four of those this weekend...

Bags for customers

I'm currently tackling the greens in the dresser with the bags and the scrap quilt I've been working on...

Pieces and parts and blocks already made

I still have a little more than 50 blocks to make. Here's some more quilting going into Amish with a Twist III...

More quilting details

Jim trimmed the dogs yesterday after he gave them both a bath. They will be much cooler with this awful heat we're expecting this week. And, it's only the middle of June. More work on Laura's log cabin quilt on DW. Since it's so big, I don't think I'll be getting this one done today, but since Jim isn't coming home for lunch, maybe?

Still No Heat

We have three space heaters as well as the little furnace out in the new studio going, but today, hopefully, we'll have a solution to our problem. I have an appointment this morning and today I should be visited by the drywaller, plumber, and the HVAC guys. I hope I'm able to get some quilting done with all of that. 

Here's some more progress in Linda's quilt...

Here's the reveal

Yesterday I wasn't sure what I was putting into those weird shapes and this is the outcome. Do you like?

Beller's came up yesterday and came over for a visit last night. After they left, it was still too early to call it quits in the current studio and of course, my long arming mojo was gone. 

Sew Very Easy is hosting a free BOM using up scraps in your stash. I vacillated in whether to participate. I have enough scraps around here and it would certainly get rid of a bunch so that decided it for me and I'll be "playing" along. Our homework for this month is cutting everything out. It's a mystery quilt but she gave us some rough guidelines to use and said to not overthink it. I started working on those.

Misty Doan also posted a cute wall hanging on YouTube that would be fun to piece. I think after I get through cutting for the Sew Very Easy quilt-along I'll work on finding scraps around here for what Misty is calling "Make More". 

A Bunch of Things

Yesterday morning started out getting Jills quilt off the frame once it was quilted out. While it was stitching I managed to get half the puff quilt tied. 

The afternoon resulted in trimming Jills quilt and getting backing/batting made for the Scrap Petal top. I didn't want to rob Peter to pay Paul in the backing situation with this top so I pieced four long gray and black strips together to make one. I wanted to put wool batt into it since this is going to be one of mine, and went to the closet to fetch one.

Except I didn't have one in my inventory. WHAT? I always have a wool batt in inventory. Scrounging around the studio and upstairs under the bed resulted in JUST ENOUGH batt to piece together for this top. I loaded and basted in the back and batt and waited until Jim got home to help me load the top. It's pretty fragile with only the fabric glue holding all the petals in place.

What's on the frame this morning

Here's what transpired with my stitching...

Working out pretty well

Once again, this is being advanced with the petal stitching and then I'll have to back roll to put in the filler stitching. I don't want to do this one very heavy because I want to use it as my snuggle quilt on the couch. Thus the reason for the wool batt. Jim likes to keep the house cooler and I'm always freezing at night while we relax before bed. 

Today I'm starting to pack for my trip tomorrow to Cleveland. I CAN'T WAIT! I didn't sleep well last night because I'm so excited and I have a few other family things on my mind right now spinning around in my head. I'm a little nervous too; venturing that far out without Jim which I haven't done in a while. 

No blogging for the next four days because I'm leaving out early tomorrow morning (well...early for me) but I'll have lots to tell (I hope) about my long arming event and meeting Lauren Jackson. 

Making Up For The Lost Sunday

Yesterday was a completely productive day in here. The Cathedral quilt is complete! And I mean bound and everything. Here is a better pic of the overall effect...

Cathedral by Alison Glass...quilted by me!

Once that was done I immediately got the Puff backing and batt loaded and quilted quickly. I then set up for today and this is what's on the frame this morning...

Jills Stacked Coins/Zipper Top

It was too late in the afternoon to get this going so first thing this morning it will be started. 

The Puff/Biscuit quilt was next. I attached the backing/batting to the top and then birthed the piece. It's been whip stitched closed and while Jills top is being stitched out, will tie between the biscuits to finish it up.

After the daylight started to wane, I moved along to the Scrap Petal top. I have all the petals glued on temporarily until I can get it on the long arm. So, it's going to hang on the wall for a week or so I think. 

Scrap Petals

The pattern said to cut 64 large petals, which I did. But then upon constructing it, found it was overkill. Not one to waste my efforts, I made the large flower larger than what the pattern called for, and put the last petal falling off the flower. 

Tomorrow I start to pack to get ready for my Cleveland trip. I am SOOOO excited to be spending time with fellow long armers; people I can chat with on a professional and educational level who actually speak my language. I'm planning on coming home with a head full of information, skills, and purchasing needed notions, long arm supplies, and anything else to keep me entertained during the coming winter months.

Small Project Saturday

Yesterdays schedule was better for me to work small project day. And, I had purchased the new Magic Pins from Pieces and needed a new pin cushion for their home. Here's what I came up with...

Jims grandmothers coffee cup 

 Here's another annual small project I worked on for the house...

Go Green! Go White!

I finished getting the background section done for my scrap petal garden top...

Scrap Petal Garden

And while the game was getting underway and Jim was otherwise occupied I was able to get all the petals and centers cut that are required for the new quilt...

The flower petals

Interestingly enough, I've not yet added any fusible to these. I think, to leave the piece more pliable, I'm going to just fabric glue them down to hold them in place and instead quilt them down to give them a more frayed/raw edge look. I don't like the stiff feeling with fusibles and had already forgotten about the Misty Fuse (seriously, I had them half cut out when I remembered) because I had it in my head to just temporarily glue them down since the pattern isn't so stringent and very forgivable.  

I don't think much is going to happen in the studio today. Jim and I have been running non-stop for a couple of weeks now and we need a battery recharge day. Movies this afternoon and then maybe, if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll get off the couch and do some sewing. 

A Better Pic

After finally getting on the long arm, before heading outside for the rest of the day/night, I managed to get all the colors quilted on Cathedral. Here's a much better pic of the results so far...

Quilting Detail 

We had to run errands this morning and are already back from those. Jim's going to can applesauce this morning and I'm going to long arm the filler on Cathedral and work some more on the new project: Scrap Petal Garden. I just about have all the blocks in place for the background. 

Back in Business

After taking a test drive with the new bobbin case, it looks like we have all systems go. 

This is what's on the frame this morning...

ML's quilt top ready to work some custom magic

This is an Edyta Sitar design and I can't wait to get into the quilting! 

Yesterday was pretty much a bust in here after testing and making sure the new bobbin case was going to work. Our neighbors to the north are still here and we spent most of yesterday with them. We never know when they'll be up again and it was nice to enjoy our summer-like day on our deck and around their campfire watching the nearly full moon come up. 

I did get some HST's sewn and trimmed while they were eating supper and made a trimming snake out of the bits and pieces.

Scrap Snake

Long arming most of today since it's been, what, a week or more? I MISS DW! I'll work on my other top this evening since it's supposed to start raining this afternoon and will continue through most of the rest of the day/night. 

A Golden Nugget

Not bad for my first go.

Pillow Cover

The pattern can be found on Missouri Star Quilt Company's YouTube channel. The quilting can be found under the "new" sit down machine I've made from my Janome 1600P.

Doing sit-down quilting is a much different beast than long arming. HUGE difference. But I've done sit down before and find it cathartic and after spending six to eight hours on your feet long arming, yet your quilting scratch hasn't been satisfied, this is the ticket.

The paisley still rears its ugly head. There's a back story behind this fabric, but here it is. Once again. Showing up in something I did with scraps of fabric. This is one of the "magazines" in Valeries quilt.

That damn paisley

But the bookcase quilt is getting bound this morning and it'll be off my to-do list.

And look at the selvedge I found with our granddaughters name on it. Too cute!

Penelope is famous

Today may be interrupted with some deck work, but this morning the temps are still very chilly and going outside won't be until later.

Slab-Tastic

All the slabs are done for the Scrap Happy top.

The slabs

Once MSQC sends me the background fabric, sewing will commence. Until then...

Adding titles to the spines

Not sure why my photos are being dingus lately, but you get the idea. I'm "borrowing" from my selvedges and adding those as the "book titles" and "authors". It's a long process; once you've found that 'just right' selvedge, it has to be fussy cut and trimmed accordingly.

May Wallhanging

This is the one I severely messed up on but corrected by adding some outline stitching to the whole motif. It still needs to be bound so maybe today?

Good Morning

And who can resist taking pics of this wonderful face/friend? The lighting lately has been great to photograph her so I've managed to grab some great pics. Opportunity!

Today I'll continue on with Valeries quilt since the selvedges are taking longer then originally planned. The Sugaridoo BOM (actually, RxR) came out last night, and we can't forget the May wallhanging that needs binding. Great way to play and enjoy the sunny (yet very cold) day outside.

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.

Merry Holidays Everybody

May the holidays find everybody not so busy to be able to enjoy their peace, their companionship, and their friends and families.

I feel like Christmas, in particular, has found such a commercialism opportunity and it's not the reason for the season. Even quilting stores and web sites have used the holiday to try to ply you with "deals" and "values". Hopefully this is a trend that won't stay around long.

For my Christmas giving, I volunteered to quilt five charity quilts for the ASQ guild in Charlotte. Five quilts in 10 days. They were delivered on Wednesday of this week (thank you mom once again for assisting in getting them here and back).

Four of the Five Charity Quilts

The fifth one was on the frame when I snapped the pic, but it was orange, orange, orange.

Hazel seems to be getting bigger by the day.

Hazel at 13 Weeks with her "cigar"

She is learning about studio time and self-play. She tries to "help" me in the studio and I have relegated to giving her left over handles from various bag projects so she feels like she's actually a part of my studio time. 

Since she's getting so much better at independent play she enabled me to actually get this finished this week for my father and his wife Charlotte. They are coming later today for a visit and I made this for them for Christmas. 

The photo and the finished project

Here it is a little closer...

This took me about a week to complete

I love, love, love doing art projects! This is probably why I enjoy doing my long arming so much. I get to enhance the quilt with my version of art (since drawing and painting are NOT my thing). Here's what's on the frame this week.

My New York Beauty ready for long arming

I have started putting curly feathers into the outer border, curls in each of the "points", half feathers into both small borders strips, and half feathers into the quarter circles. I haven't actually started quilting the quarter circle points or the spaces between since the art project above took up much of my time.

Katie and I have realized we are less then a month before our annual winter retreat! We look very forward to this event every year, and last year, due to circumstance and weather, we were unable to attend. Barb and Margaret are supposed to come along again this year, so it's going to be very nice catching up with them during the four days we get to sew together.

I'm trying to get all my pieces cut before we leave. Everything is cut for the Antelope Canyon top I'm going to make and am now cutting for a pattern Katie drafted (from a picture no less). It's a rather complex scrappy block, so to make sure I'm keeping myself organized I have devised labels.

Keeping things organized as I cut from my scraps stash

That's about all the news as of late.