A Bit of This, A Bit of That

I really need to get my sewing room under control and I think the only way to do that is to finish things. In an effort to finish one project, I have been working with my leftover triangles again. I got them all sewed together into half square triangles units. Got all of those trimmed up and put them together into Broken Dishes blocks and then added them to all the blocks I have made in the past. 

I saw a quilt somewhere online using rows of blocks of various sizes. It had either grey or tan as strips in between those rows. I counted all the blocks and figured out how big a quilt I could make and it was going to be pretty big so I adjusted and decided to make two smaller quilts, thinking they would be easier to sell or give away or something. I sewed the blocks together by size into strips around 45-50" long and took them to work to lay out on the floor. As I laid them out I was talking to my boss about the upcoming Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner and Talent Show at the church and she mentioned having a silent auction also. I offered to add a quilt so I picked up what I started and took it all home to adjust the lengths of the strips to something more like 70-80".

Here is a picture of the rows hanging on the drying rack after pressing.

 Here are the rows laid out at work. As you can see the rows varied a lot in length depending on how many blocks I had of each size.

I took a few of the blocks to the fabric store to see what I could find for the 'in between' and my favorite was an apple green. I added green to each row to make it 85" and then put 1" finished strips between the rows. Here is a picture of it on the floor for basting.

I backed it with a barn red flannel - a king-size duvet cover that my husband got at a garage sale for $5 last summer. Here it is all finished and hanging at the church. 

I did a medium stipple using a variegated green thread. Here is a picture of the two smallest rows. There are 4 little 1/2" Broken Dishes blocks and then a strip of 25 - 1" blocks.

Tuesday was craft night next door and Sally had Linnea's quilt finished for us to see. Isn't that a cool panel?

Linnea also brought her quilt from Mary from one of the previous exchanges. Mary hadn't been able to finish all the blocks and get it put together so we didn't get to see it at the reveal and then Linnea brought it one night to craft night but I wasn't there so I asked her to bring it so I could see it. It is quite beautiful in person!

I finally finished my grandson's baby quilt. He is now 7 months old!

It was made from blocks I cut out of the quilt I made for his mommy almost 30 years ago. While pregnant I had embroidered the 12 old-fashioned babies on a piece of pale green fabric. When I had them done I just quilted around the embroidery and then between the babies. It was a pretty boring quilt though she loved it. When we talked about a quilt for her little one I suggested redoing her quilt and she was open to that. She told me she likes the 30's prints so I got some and cut 2 1/2" squares to frame the blocks. When I cut the blocks I left the original hand quilting around the babies and just cut through all the layers and used them that way. I machine quilted diagonals through the small squares and added another round of hand quilting about 1/4" out from the original. The back I used was fabric I purchased in Sitka when I visited my daughter when she was in college and I thought it was appropriate since little Karl visited Sitka when he was just one month old.

I have had everything done but the label a month ago but just didn't get to the label. Finally this week I wrote out a label and got it stitched to the back.

I have pulled out my denim now and hope to work my way through that next. That would mean at least two large bins will be emptied and I should be able to get rid of some backs and batting that has been given to me too!

I am hoping my next post will be an update on denim quilts.

Failure?

Well, I guess the weekly thing is just not going to happen! I wish it would but it just isn't. I guess I have to be satisfied with every two weeks or so!

I have two 'finishes' so far this year though! The first was finishing the border on a round robin top. I will be taking that to Idaho for the reveal in about a month.

On January 6th we had our 5th and final reveal at my neighbor's house in our quilt exchange. Luckily, she emailed a reminder on the first or I wouldn't have had this one done for Cindy (on the right).

Nadine (left) made this one for Mary (right). Some of the black and whites were the same ones she used in this one for me.

Mary made this huge one for me! It really isn't that orange in real life. As you can see, my grandson took part in the festivities.

Nadine (left) got this lovely quilt from Cindy (right). 

A great pattern and I love this focus fabric!

Linnea (right) created this Bargello Beauty for Sally (left). When she had the quilt loaded on her machine she discovered a mistake and had to take it off and fix it before quilting this. 

Sally ran into problems while quilting Linnea's so she just got to see it partially done. I will post pictures as soon as I get to see it finished.

My little Grandson had fun playing with his mommy - he had just pulled her glasses off in this picture.

Here are a couple of parting shots of my little buddy. The first is taking a short nap in Grammy's sewing room and the second is playing with my tote bag under the ironing board. He has started crawling so I will have to either clean up the sewing room or keep a close eye on him when he is helping. Which do you think is more likely?

Quilt Retreat!

Well, the denim quilt class went well. We had a great group and had lots of fun. In the end I brought home four half done quilts to finish and several people took the pieces home to finish theirs. I finished those four tops over the next week or so.

I have been spending a lot of time going to the doctor and working which hasn't allowed for much time in the sewing room. Adding to that I have found that I get tired more quickly because of my foot issues. The doctor that I saw after the MRI recommended I get another opinion from the doctors at the University of Washington so I made an appointment there. That doctor wanted me to get a CT Scan to compliment the MRI so another two weeks went by. I got the CT Scan and saw the doctor again on Tuesday. The CT Scan showed that I have a divot in my talus and that the little step-up on the top of the talus is starting to damage the cartilage on my tibia. So the decision has been made for me to have surgery that will put a cadaver (I know that is kind of strange) bone and cartilage plug into my talus. The surgery will happen on April 2 and then I will be laid up for quite a while. I will not be able to put any weight on my ankle for at least 6 weeks and then limited activity for 6 more weeks. Not sure how long I will be stuck at home but I am starting to work on getting things in place so I don't go nuts. I will be able to work from home to a certain extent and I have a number of hand sewing projects to work on. The most frustrating part is not being able to do much in my yard again this year!

This past weekend I was able to go to quilt retreat with my sister. We missed the one in October due to other things going on that month and we both were really needing that time away. I was amazed at how much I got done.

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and had the room to myself so I was able to get focused. While I watched a movie and listened to music I got my first quilt top done. It was this baby quilt which I finished the next day so that I could give it to a camp staffer at her baby shower on Saturday.

My next project was another denim quilt using black, white, gray and a few red squares. I think it turned out great!

That top was done by Friday afternoon and I got started on the next ones. This time I had enough of the navy, cream and light blue plaid twills to make two tops so I worked on both at the same time. Those were done by Saturday evening (even with going to the shower and having the grandkids visit for a few hours. Here is one of those two tops.

While the grandkids were visiting I let them help me get started on another denim top. Let's just say it was crazy! Here is a picture of the four of us working on the quilt. The kids took turns handing me pieces, snipping the pieces to be pressed and pressing (with their mom's supervision). They had a great time! We might be able to finish that top this next week as they will be visiting for their spring break. I am hoping for some decent weather so they can also spend some time outside.

Saturday I pulled out this One Block Wonder project I started about a year ago. This one needed dark green strips between the blocks so I had to figure that one out. I stayed up until 11:30 to get the top together. I think this will be the bluegrass festival quilt in light of my upcoming surgery. 

My son has been back at home since August along with his little Maltese, Mandu. A couple of weeks ago he dropped her off at my office while he went to the gym. She will probably come to work with me sometimes when he is in Korea (or wherever he goes to teach English) so this was a little test. The test showed that she is going to need some training for it to work! She likes to be on your lap and in the middle of everything which makes it hard to get much done! Here she is looking over the top of my desk to see what is going on outside the door. Gotta say, it is awfully cute!

When I left for the quilt retreat I looked at my flowerbeds and the almost blooming daffodils and when I came home I was greeted by lots and lots of beautiful flowers! Spring really is coming!

I started wearing my boot again so that my foot doesn't hurt as much. Today I wore it to work and when I got home since my foot was feeling pretty good I decided to spend some time out in the yard. I kept the boot on and managed to get quite a bit of work done and as a result, every part of my body besides my foot is tired! The rain is supposed to return tomorrow so I need to take my moments in the sun when I can to get a little done outside!

End of the Year

Since my last post, we have celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas. The grandkids have been here twice, we had a table at a bazaar and I made it through another Advent/Christmas season at work (I am a church office administrator so there is lots to get done). At the beginning of December my good friend came home from Japan for a month long visit during which various members of the family have spent nights at my house, we put on a wedding shower and got her daughter married last weekend. We have just a few more days before she heads back to Japan so we have been trying to spend as much time as we can together. Here is a picture of my two best friends and me. I am on the right, the mother of the bride is in the middle and on the left is our third musketeer!

I have not done much sewing but I can post a couple of pictures of completed projects! Here is the table topper I made for my neighbor in our 'small project' exchange. I used the One Block Wonder method but didn't like the blocks right next to each other so I added the red triangles. I had some more blocks leftover so I put together a table runner that just needs quilting. When it is done I will have a nice Christmas gift waiting for someone! 

I got that Harry Potter quilt finished. I made it for my friend's daughter's wedding gift. She is a little bit Harry Potter obsessed so it seemed appropriate to make a Harry Potter Monet's Wedding Ring quilt. Their invitations were based on the Marauder's Map, the ring bearer carried the rings up on a wand, their cake topper was HP themed, and the list goes on.

 Here are some close-ups to show the individual blocks a little better...

I even downloaded a Harry Potter font to do the label.

I got to be there when they opened the package and I think it was a hit.


This quilt will be heading to a new home this week, too. 

It is a Christmas gift but needed its label and I have not had much time to spend in the sewing room. The quilt's name is now "It Needs A Squirrel..." and will be going to my boss and her husband who gave it it's name when he saw it at the quilt show.

I started physical therapy for my ankle about a week ago. I am not so sure it is going to make a difference but I am doing my exercises in hopes that it will. 

We are starting a new year tomorrow and I am hoping the New Year brings more time for sewing (and posting) and healing for my foot!

Starts, Finished and Progress

Just read over my last post and can't believe that I haven't written a post in a month and a half and how much has been happening since then. 

My foot/ankle is improving, if not fast enough for my tastes! My doctor had me taking massive doses of anti-inflammatories for 10 days and the swelling and inflammation went down at least temporarily. I was on my feet this past Friday and Saturday at the Guild Quilt Show on cement floors and Sunday was a hard day but both legs and feet were unhappy. Monday when I went to work I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could walk at close to normal speed without limping and even the stairs weren't bad. 

I got my two quilts finished for the quilt show and I was really happy with how they both turned out. I will do another post soon showing the quilting on this first one. The small tag hanging under the label says "A GUY likes this quilt." Every man who came in received one of these tags to put on a quilt he like. This quilt eventually received two of these tags and the other received on.

 This one is my 2004 Shop Hop Quilt. I had it in the Relay for Life Quilt Show in March but I added some more quilting in the block 'shadows' so the blocks would stand out a little more. 

Tonight I plan to take the hanging sleeve off so it can be put on our new bed. 

Fall is definitely here in Western Washington. We had about a week of fog that just didn't lift and now the sun has been out for a few days and it is gorgeous! Our son has been helping get the leaves picked up from the yard. Today we got 4 loads of leaves hauled away and yesterday and today I got most of the mowing done and let SIL finish it off. I can sure feel it in the muscles that I was out working in the yard!

I have gotten quite a few Harry Potter blocks done for the quilt I am working on but with other things going on I realized I would not have it done for the quilt show. I did finish the hand quilting on my 2002 Shop Hop quilt but I don't have any pictures of that yet. I will try to get that done soon. 

I finished a border on one round robin project and have one more I hope to get to tomorrow so I can pass them off to my niece and get some others from her. We need to get them moving along again. She and I have both have had crazy summers.

Our daughter and son-in-law got their little house on wheels moved out to its 'new' home and are pretty much settled in. Our son is settled into our Argosy until he finds a 'real' job. For now he is doing some math tutoring and helping around the house some.

There are rumors we will have grandkids here for Halloween so might have to do some quick planning for a fun family party. We are thinking decorating gingerbread haunted houses or maybe Halloween sugar cookies.

I need to pull some things together next week for a quilt retreat too. 

The Quilt Show & #5 & Rearranging

Here is a close up of the quilting on finish #5 for the year. It was made from the leftover triangles of another quilt that I blogged about here. 

I was happy to get it done to hang in the quilt show which was March 16. The show went well with about 50 quilts hanging. I only had one quilt of mine hanging that had been in the show before. There were 11 local quilters who shared their quilts in the show. 

Here is a shot of the Eiffel Tower quilt my niece made to raise money for her trip with the Vivace Chorale to Paris. It is an adaptation of the Stained Glass Denim Quilt Pattern I have used so much. It is amazing to me how many people are still asking for that pattern.

This quilt was done all by hand by a local quilter. The base of the tree is hidden by the sewing machine that was for sale. The creator of the quilt saw a 3" X 3" picture of this tree and enlarged it to a queen size quilt! This quilter shared 7 or 8 quilts with us at the show!

Here are three more quilts on display. 

Another quilter shared these two quilts on the quilt rack with us. They were both hand sewn. The Cathedral Window quilt used 30 yards of unbleached muslin and 3 yards of the blue calico.

If you would like to see more pictures from the show, they are up on flickr.

I have been working on getting things rearranged in the house to allow for the new pieces of furniture that arrived a few weeks ago. I emptied out a bookcase and took it to my niece's house. I rearranged things in the great room and then started to add items to the new curio cabinet. I kept adding and found more things and added them and was rather surprised to fill it! 

I have also been working hard at cleaning up the sewing room. It was just such a huge mess! I am pretty satisfied with it right now but there is still room for improvement. I bought some bins to store fabric and batting, etc. and started filling the little drawers in the sewing cabinet and I even got rid of quite a few things. I will try to post some pictures soon but the weather is improving and I have a lot of work to do outside!

Retreat, #4 and Show

Last weekend was Quilt Retreat for me and I got a lot accomplished. I got the star blocks from the last block exchange put together and got the borders on another top that has been waiting around for several months. I also did two sets of One Block Wonder blocks and two LWR quilt tops. As a final project I worked on some blocks that I started several years ago.

Had a great visit with my sister and other quilters at the retreat and the bonus visit from my daughter and grandkids. On my way home I stopped by my son's apartment and picked up the twin bed he has been using. He decided that a nearly 23 year old, 6 foot tall young man should have a big person's bed. This was followed by a quick stop at my daughter's house and I continued on the trip home. I was so glad to be home at about 5:30 pm after leaving camp at about 8:30 am!

I arrived home to two new pieces of furniture in my house. The most exciting was my new sewing cabinet that my husband made for me.

It has 24 treadle sewing machine cabinet drawers, a shelf for my serger and it fits around my Sew-E-Z table for my sewing machine. I have only done a little sewing since I got home but I already love the extended sewing surface. I haven't had a chance to fill all the drawers yet but I am looking forward to getting things organized.

The other piece of furniture is an antique curio cabinet that my husband purchased from a customer. 

I already have one curio cabinet and really no more space in my house so we are emptying a book case and giving it to our niece to make some more space. I am also considering giving away another piece if I can get things rearranged to I'm not using the space.

With the quilt show just one week away I am trying to get more quilts finished that are close. Here is finish #4 for the year. These are my Block Exchange Blocks from this past year. The rainbow stripe fabric is the backing for the quilts I made with my grandkids so I figure this will be a cuddle quilt for them to use at Grammy's house. I used a polyester batt that I had on hand and was able to make it two layers so it is nice and fluffy. 

I started quilting another quilt yesterday and after I had some feather borders done I realized the tension was off and I have to rip it all out! I stayed home from work today as I am not feeling well so I am hoping to get the ripping done today and then maybe I will feel better tomorrow so I can get the quilting redone so it is ready for the show.

This week I have received 20 quilts from other local quilters and hope to get at least another 20 for the show. I have 3-7 people who have offered some so I hope to get a bunch. I am hoping to only have newer quilts of mine in the show so it is mostly fresh and new. I was excited this week to find out that we will have a beautiful handmade oak quilt rack made by one of our church members to raffle off.

Well, I still feel pretty crummy but I am going to try to get something accomplished today even if it is just hand stitching a binding!

Second and Third

Finishes, that is. The first was the Relay Raffle Quilt. Glad to have that one done. I hope to get the tickets printed this week so we can start selling them.

I realized on Tuesday morning that I am invited to a baby shower for a young woman who works at the daycare at work tomorrow. I realized I had this top all ready to be quilted so I picked up some flannel for the back on the way home from work and quickly got it washed and dried. Got things laid out and basted, quilted and had the binding ready for hand-sewing at craft night that evening! So here is a picture of finish number 3

and here is a close-up of some of the quilting. I have so much fun making those little flowers!

It was a busy week at work especially with the need to get next week's work done early so I can head to my quilt retreat! I realized this morning that I really need to get busy on a plan for projects to work on at the retreat. I have thrown some things together but not totally satisfied with things so far. I will do some more planning tomorrow.

This morning I got one of my shop hop quilts basted and ready for quilting so that might get quilted over the weekend. Maybe it will be finish #4! It feels really good to be finishing up some UFOs!