Sunshine and Shadow

First things first...I want to finish this quilt top and quilt it as soon as I can, to hang above the couch in the living room.  I was flipping through patterns, trying to find something fairly simple to  on that spot until I have an applique quilt finished.  Above the couch is a great place for wall hangings, the couch is along the left wall as you come into the room, so the quilt isn't immediately obvious as other pictures and things attract your attention, but as you sit down the extra colour or design in the quilt catches you eye.  This Sunshine and Shadow pattern is in a book called The Simple Joys of Quilting by Joan Hanson and Mary Hickey, it is just the right size and presented in just the right colours so there was no fiddling with the pattern or colour scheme.

And, here is a picture of the Remembrance in blue and white, pattern by Kim Diehl in her book Simple Seasons.

A New Year's Reckoning

I have finally finished hand sewing the binding to the blue and white quilt...and I promised myself that no other sewing was allowed until its done...so I'm looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully some peaceful piecing.

For the new year, I have several quilts that need borders or re-setting.  Several  tops to be quilted.  And a few new tops that are in various stages...these I consider to be works in progress...Christmas Traditions, Dear Jane, Blooming Nine Patch, Wheel of Fortune, and one called Pick up Sticks.  Applique quilts in progress include Antique Sampler, My Whimsical Quilt Garden, Stars and Sprigs and parts of Dear Jane.

New quilts that I'll be starting, these are have to do's  for me, is the new Just Takes 2 free mystery block of the month; and, Praire Flowers Encore by Jo Morton.

I'm really looking forward to the Just Takes 2 series, presented by two very talented quilters and inspired by the exhibit “Infinite Variety: Three Hundred Years of Red and White Quilts” .   I will be using kona cotton snow for the "background" and one of the following for the second colour.  The brown is has more red than the picture shows; I have ordered the solid orange which is called persimmon, and I have high hopes for using that.  The red is from the Bonnie Blue Basics line.

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A Quilting Marathon!

Well, I'm just about done, and done in with quilting. I don't think I'll ever do this to myself again. Somehow I ended up quilting four quilts, all with a 'deadline" of sorts, all in about six weeks.

First came the red Thirties Sampler, a design by Eleanor Burns. I wanted that done for my daughter's return home from college, for use in the basement rec room where she hangs out. Bright and large for a couch quilt! (red is so hard to photograph, with a flash it looks awful, without a flash it just looks bad!)

Then came the Jelly Roll Quilt, which I wanted to finish for my niece before it became a Christmas present! I think I finished that one quick, with meandering stitches all over. (hubby took this pic, and I should have checked it before handing over the quilt!)










 
Finally it was time to quilt a Christmas quilt, which was a mystery block of the month by the Fat Quarter Shop. I really enjoyed sewing these bright colours, and the designs of the novelty blocks! This was for my son and his wife for Christmas, but I wanted them to have it for Christmas, or to use during the holiday season, and I was going to be visiting them on the 15th of December, so I wanted it finished by then. And it was!!

I had fun free motion quilting a different little design on each block...I think I used up all of my "library" of free motion designs on this one!





 Then there was a quilt needed for the guest bed. It should have been larger, it could have been the Stars for a New Day top, but ended up to be Remembrance in blue and white, a pattern by Kim Diehl. First I needed to make the quilt bigger than it was, by re-jigging the final border design so it ended up to be 85" square. My Mom will be staying here for New Year's weekend, so I wanted this quilt to be both used that weekend and a present to take home.

I did this quilt all with straight stitches (which makes me laugh, because really so many of these stitched rows are not straight!! lol, but I do the best I can!). My sewing machine has been giving me fits, and needs servicing for a few issues, so I didn't trust that I could confidently free motion any of it. This picture doesn't show the border, which is a wider version of the sashing. Just the binding left to go, which I can do one day next week.

Thinking and looking and making a mess!

I've been at a very low point physically for the past couple of weeks; this happens from time to time, but this is the longest I've been stuck for a while. As always, I spend this time with some hand applique, lots of magazines, patterns, books, and the internet! Starting and planning and thinking.

My sisters and I used to say, when we visited certain shops or exhibitions, that we wish that we could throw out everything in our house and just bring in that room! I started to feel that way about my stash, my projects, my finished quilts even! I'd wander into the sewing room and despair that I couldn't conjure up all the eye candy I had been looking at. I'd get a bit of energy and start flinging fabrics into piles that might make a quilt...then changed my mind...then do it again next time I got too fidgety. In particular, I couldn't settle on another applique quilt...Jacqueline's Album was just making me unhappy no matter what fabrics I thought of; Piece O Cake designs were too big for what I wanted (I think I have at least three bed sized applique on the go!). Well, I had a reason for not liking all the applique patterns and books I had! I did decide on a fusbile applique project...but its going to be a long winter if I continue to have relapses.

Sitting on the couch this afternoon, something triggered a great idea in my head. I had a charm pack of something! Oh...where was it? Blackbird designs...Antique Fair...oh! the colours are perfect for my new living room. Anna's Garden is a Lori Smith quilt that I've started umpteen times, and the size is just right for above our couch...and charm squares can be easily used on these small seven inch blocks! And, I found two packs of Primitive Muslin charm packs, which made into four patch blocks will make a terrific background for the applique.

I feel so uplifted to just have made some kind of decision...until tomorrow comes...I wonder if I'll change my mind again?

A finish, and, a I won't do that again!

Here is Mary Ellen's Garden, pattern by Lori Smith. Its hanging over our bed, and once the walls are painted, will look better! I did fusible applique on this quilt, it was the kind of quilt that just called to me to get 'er done, and enjoy it!

And what I won't do again?

Free motion quilt with poly batting!!! Uggh! At least that's what I think caused all the problems. This is a portion of the almost finished quilt, the pattern Egg Money Quilts by Eleanor Burns.

I almost always use Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 cotton/poly quilt batt.. I really like how it quilts, how it launders, drapes, everything. For the Egg Money quilts, I bought a poly batt, thinking I would tie it. Well, one thing led to another. First I decide to just straight stitch on the sashing strips. Then, I make the regretful decision to free motion a bit on the blocks. There were skipped stitches, huge tension messes, broken threads, even two broken needles, lots of ripping out. I don't ever remember having this many problems, even as a beginner. I persevered, and I think I can call it done. Thank goodness this quilt was always destined for the basement rec-room to brighten it.

Honouring Emma re-set

Well, here is the final Honouring Emma quilt top, now it needs a new name, I think! The new setting is a perfect wallhanging size, 45 x 45. I think it will be a wonderful spring quilt, and I look forward to quilting it in the cold of February :)

I made use of a new ruler I bought months ago, the Cutting Corners ruler. I really really like the effect I was able to get for the setting triangles...those three-fabric setting triangles were cut and pieced and placed easy-peasy! You could sew these as a strip set, and cut your triangles from that, but every other one would have the dark side on the long side rather than at the corner. The Cutting Corners ruler lets you sew and cut just the fabric you need.


The quilt started out as Honouring Emma by Lori Smith. Somewhere along the line, I decide to do a setting with some pieced blocks.
Then it got sewn together like this. I didn't particularly like the finished size (55 x 68)...too big for a wallhanging, too small for a bed, and I wouldn't want hand applique in a lap quilt! The new setting lost one applique blocks, and a few pieced blocks.

How quilts can become UFOs

I'm the kind of quilter that will just say uncle! when a quilt or blocks no longer makes happy, due to the quilting, the design, the fabrics, whatever; I'll put it in the back of the closet, I'll throw it out (!); I'll bundle it up and toss it far into a corner to discover another day. On the other hand, there are quilts or blocks that I will work with for a loooong time to make right.

This has happened to a few projects that have been taking up "active" space in my sewing room lately. Roll Roll Cotton Boll has gone into the back of a cupboard and I don't care if I ever see it again. The quilting is the string pieced squares was just too much...a big oops on my part. There were a lot of seams in those squares, plus all that quilting, every time I went back to it to quilt the blue pieced squares, the string pieced squares just got heavier and stiffer. Not at all what you want in a comfy quilt.



The mystery quilts I had pieced over the summer? Well, the one with parts like this finished as a design that doesn't work all that well for my fabric choices. The green star points just disappear into the design. I've drawn the quilt several times on EQ, and layed it out on the bed, and it does need re-jigging. So, that's a quilt that will disappear for a quite a while!







The one with parts that looked like this has potential to be a fantastic quilt. Only problem is I didn't cut some of the long sashing and border pieces (or if I did, I can't find them!); I'm not happy with the background fabrics for the centre medallion; and I think I "borrowed" some fabric from the pile for another project, which means trying to figure out what substitutions I can make. Oh! While typing this I just had an idea. So maybe I'll keep this one still in my active drawers!




This is Honouring Emma, applique design by Lori Smith. I had so many ideas for setting this quilt, and I chose the wrong one. There is nothing terribly wrong with it, just not right to me. I think that this will be this weekend's project, finally taking it all apart and starting over with a new setting. I don't want this one sitting in the closet for another six months, waiting for its turn to be loved!










Do you have quilts in limbo? Those ones that you might refer to as a UFO, but deep down you know you don't really care anymore? And blocks or tops that you want to love, but need to fix?

Minglewood Sampler Quilt

I love making sampler quilts.  They are my absolute favourite type of quilt!  I enjoy the variety, the feeling of marching toward a finished quilt, one by one.  Each block gives me a different type of puzzle to fit together, the cutting can easily be done one block at a time, then put the whole thing away for another day.

Before we moved house I did a bit of stash building, and got a fat quarter bundle of some of these homespsuns. They are lovely and soft and light...I knew they'd make into something wonderful.  Then I came across the book Four Seasons at Minglewood.  A sampler quilt!  With twelve inch blocks!  I usually end up making samplers with six inch or smaller blocks, so the twelve inch size would be a nice change.  I know I could easily make my own sampler with EQ, but its nice to have a book in front of you with all the design and cutting layouts already done.

Here's the first block, Arrow Star.  I've discovered that the wovens are maybe a bit too soft and light...I did a little Best Press on the fabrics I used today, they wiggled and moved everywhere, and still frayed.   But, the block still came out at 12 1/2"!  But next time I'll  use a much heavier coating of Best Press or maybe starch.

The book has a couple of other that are wallhaning size...the Turkey Tracks is one that will likely end up on my list.

Mary Ellen's Garden

This is my version of Mary Ellen's Garden design by Lori Smith.  I love her patterns!!  The size is 45 x 52 and I think will be a terrific wall hanging for my new front hall.

While sick with the cold etc., I would go into the sewing room and cut out one or two pieces of fusible applique, playing with my box of civil war repro scraps.  I was suprised it actually got put together this way, over the course of many days.  I think because I wasn't working on something else at the same time!

When we were worrying about Emily and contemplating the outcome, I sewed like a madwoman on the piecing for this quilt.  Before I knew it, before I was even ready to stop sewing, the piecing and top was done!

Not much quilty happenings...

Its been a long couple of weeks.  My little colds in September turned into a very bad cold and as a result I've been pretty much stuck on couch rest for the past while. 

We had tragic news about my niece Emily and her babies, at 7 months pregnant they both died, about a day apart, before delivery.  There are no words to say about something as sad and difficult.

The good news is that my two not at home kids, and daughter in law,  will be home for Thanksgiving on Monday.  It will be the best dinner a Mom can hope for!  Also, Sunday we'll be visiting my sisters and brother and their families for Thanksgiving, its been since June since we've all been together in one place.

The past couple of days, neeeding the retreat of quitling, I have been doing a little applique, a little shopping in my pjs, and a little bit of sewing...pics soon!

Quilting Roll Roll Cotton Boll

I've started quilting Roll Roll Cotton Boll, a scrap quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter.  I realized while sewing together the blocks that I wasn't very successful at string piecing!  My seam allowances were somehow too narrow in some places, and there were a few areas where the seams came apart.  So the first order of business after sandwiching the quilt was to use a decorative stitch over those seams to close them up. Hardly noticeable, on the front.

I had to tackle quilting those big string pieced blocks.  Up till now, I 've avoided any quilt with large open areas that have had to be quilted!  I figured this would be a great practice piece.  I can stipple, meander, echo quilt, do some leaves,  make loops and circles, even M and W kind of lines and squares, but not much else...and I seem to always fall back on this type of free motion.

I have a few of Patsy Thompson's free motion quilting dvds, and I used her seashells idea to quilt these squares.  A lot of work!!   I've done one or two blocks a day, and it seems that I'm getting nowhere...just now I thought I had one block left, but I actually have two left, and the setting triangles to consider).

I can make the initial design, and basically keep going...but then, I kind of lose track and next thing you know I'm making some other echo pattern, or have worked myself into some strange space to fill up, or I've crossed a line or more...but, good practice, and I can see my stitches getting more even and I'm better at re-tracing a line.  I'm pretty happy with it, but I think I should have made a different choice.  It looks good, but because of all the seams in those blocks, and now the quilting filling it in, the quilt is getting a little too compact for my liking.  So I'll have to do some real thinking on how to do the pieced blocks, as a quilt is supposed to have an equal or  proportionate amount of quilting in all areas, but I don't want any more heavy quilting. Rule breaking here I come!

Applique Planning, continued

The Jacqueline's Album quilt pattern arrived yesterday and I started to cut up my fabrics.  I have found that for me to be at all successful in committng to an applique quilt on my own, without the benefit of block of the month mailings, I have to choose and cut out the main fabrics for each block prior to starting to sew. 

I am really pretty comfortable with my colour planning skills with pieced quilts, but as I have said many times before, applique quilts just bring me trouble.  I think its because I'm too busy thinking, would two flowers in the same bunch really have two different colours?  would there really be that many shades of green in the leaves?  should I match two flowers, and put something interesting as a third? etc. 

I cut out a square of fabric for each main element of the block, not cutting out leaf or stem fabric.  This gives me a good idea of how the colours or fabrics are being used block to block.  Well, first disappointment working on this quilt was that gee, these fabrics are boring.  They almost all read as solid.  (I've thought often of doing an applique quilt with just solids, and this may be just the one! ).  Then, as I'm getting to block three or four, I realize my oranges, which there are just two, are either not enough or not right.  So switch the orange to pink, dig around my bits and pieces tub a bit more, and find a couple of more fabrics with a bit more range of colour.  But...its niggling at me that these colours just aren't making me happy.  The yellow is too bright, the purple and yellow combination in these shades are just not in my comfort zone.  I gave up the effort after about eight blocks planned, and this morning I said to myelf I'd carry on and likely be happier as I see the blocks sewn.

However,  applique quilts can take a loooong time to make, and with all the applique and handwork I've got going on right now, this one could easily take a year or more, especially with the border.  So one has to be very happy and comfortable with the fabric choices...and this just isn't going to work.

I'd still like to stick with yellow in rememberance of my Aunt, but I'll have to find some other more subdued colour palette.

Applique Quilt Planning

Lori Smith has a new applique quilt pattern called Jacqueline's Album.  My mother's twin sister was named Jacqueline, she died from cancer far too young.  Jacqueline gave me the opportunity to learn much from her while she was ill, and I would love to make this quilt while thinking of her.  These are the colours I have selected, starting with yellow for the yellow daffodils from the Cancer Society fundraising,  that I mark her remembrance with every Spring.

Over the past couple of weeks I've enjoyed sewing a jelly roll sampler quilt for my teenage niece.  It was the first time I've worked with a jelly roll, and I had fun planning the colours for each block, and that the pre-cut strips made for easy sewing and easier math!  The pattern came from the book Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  A lot of great patterns in this book that I'm sure I'll be sewing!

My  niece is a tomboy, and doesn't like anything that might be considered girl-ish.  The prints in this quilt, Grande Finale by Sandy Gervais,  did allow me to sneak in some flower-like doodles and leaves.  Her favourite colour is yellow, so that worked for the sashing.  And I chose a black solid for the setting squares and final border, to hopefully add some drama and take away anything feminine!

I also quilted a small version of Stars and Sprigs, pattern by Kim McLean.  I really have a problem with batiks, which I know makes me an odd duck amongst many quilters!  Although I like the look they give, and working with them  never seem to be in my comfort zone.  I seem to be stuck in the traditional fabric style category :)  I'll be starting this quilt again, using reproduction fabrics as in the Kim's original quilt.

Quilts for Twin Girls!

My niece is expecting her first babies in December...twin girls! Here are the quilt tops I designed and made.




My mother was a twin, and she tells me stories how she didn't like to be dressed or treated like her sister; but if they weren't dressed or treated the same she always felt her sister got the best! How's that for a predicament?


With that in mind, I made the quilts the same, but set slightly different and with different applique centres. The blocks were inspired by a quilt in "Country Threads goes to Charm School". I used their idea of setting the little blocks with sashing...from there I made four blocks into one block, forming an x or an o. Can you see it? One quilt has Xs in the corner, the other has Os in the corner. The applique are from an EQ collection by Sue Spargo.


After deciding to raid another planned quilt for its background fabric, from Lollipop by Sandy Gervais, I went online to look for other fabrics from that collection. I added a red and yellow from the collection, the rest from my stash. And I fell in love with the little fishies print. As it turned out, it didn't work in the quilt, but it made a great pieced backing; one with red, and one with yellow.





As twins are often premature, and these babies are considered high-risk, I wanted to have the tops ready to quilt! It should only take a few days to quilt them lightly, and I'll be sure to have them ready to go by the end of October.

Sewing Space

My new sewing room is coming along nicely... my husband has put together an ironing board that's 5" bigger each way, a big improvement to me! We just placed an old board on an old sewing cabinet, covered with a wool blanket and cotton batting and stapled it all in place. He put wheels on the bottom so I could pull it out from the wall for ironing yardage and tops.






My biggest excitement is my cutting board! My father in law had an old melamine table top that fit exactly on to an old treadle cabinet...I can now fit an entire 36 x 24 cutting mat on the table, and walk around it!! This to me is a treat...I had to cut my old mats down to 30 x 18 to fit on my table, and the table was surrounded on three sides by a walls and shelf support. I'm in rotary cutting heaven!





I also have two doors now, one for a closet and one for the hall. On each closet I have hung a shoe storage bag, the one showing in this picture has some odd half yards stuffed in the pockets, and a couple of pockets hold various marking pens and tools. The other shoe storage bag holds lots of fat quarters!


I'm starting to quilt Stars and Sprigs, in a layout that gives me a long skinnyish wall hanging, 32" x 56", for a wall in the downstairs family room that is just needing a quilt that size!


I'm trying out something called Pinmoor, for basting the quilt instead of safety pins. So far they have my vote...much easier to remove from the quilt with quilting gloves on (or not), and just as easy or easier to put in than safety pins!

DJ hand sewn blocks

I got sidelined this week, so not much quilting or sewing activity. I did eventually get going on these hand sewn or appliqued Dear Jane blocks...





The two blocks on the left were hand pieced...there's a great deal of satisfaction when you stick with something no matter how frustrating! The block on the bottom left, took me a long time to sew! I was sidelined this week, so I was working a bit slower and a bit more thoughtfully...I started sewing it early one morning and finished it just before dinner the next day! I think in all it took about two hours of actual sewing time! The one at the top right I thought would be more difficult, but that one went together a little quicker. It isn't completely symmetrical, but I'm happy with it. The two blocks on the left were a combination of machine piecing and applique.

An Applique Prep Day

I stitch hand applique and other hand embroidery or sewing for about 15 minutes, two or three times a day. Any more than that and I end up with sore hands, arm, and shoulder! I usually stick to small blocks or simple blocks. I find applique prep to be really messy for my sewing room...bits of fabric to be flung and found, templates drawn or printed, glue, scissors, starch, light box, pencils, oh my! So I tend to do my applique prep in as big bunches as I can, so I have a basket of sewing ready to go when I am.

I'm just about finished the 13th block of a Whimsical Quilt Garden, designed by the ladies of Piece O Cake Designs. This was a really simple block! Also, a picture of the blocks sewn and complete with sashing; these blocks are designed so that some parts overhang onto the sashing, a couple of blocks even have parts that overhang past the sashing to the next block. You'll see that the middle block of the second row have parts that remain to be sewn.





I'm making this quilt as a block of the month; it seems about the only way I can really stick with an applique quilt is to be handed the fabric on a monthly basis so I will sew it! Homestead Hearth offered an option where the quilter gets to pick their background fabric, and the store sends the monthly block fabrics and completer fabrics; although, I have gone ahead and picked my own sashing fabrics. I'm also using a bit of wool on most blocks, just to give a bit of a different look.

Another block of the month I'm working on is called Antique Sampler, by Sue Daley, offered at Quilters Paradise (California). Here are the blocks I've made so far.





Each block has a reverse applique centre, with a very small applique on top. Here's the prep for the reverse applique. I used a double layer of freezer paper for the circle template, and I find a small olfa cutting mat just fine for a hard and kinda sticky surface for tracing templates.



Then, I have the most recent block from Val Laird's Consider the Lilies b.o.m. This is where my new wonder stuff really makes stitching life wonderful! Sulky's Sticky Solvy! It's not cheap, so I am careful to use every last scrap...and to me, it so worth the purchase.



I found this product when I was researching transfer-eze, and I think it might be similar. You can print on it from your printer, or trace out your design on to it. Cut it out, and it sticks Sticks really really well. But, it comes off just as easy when you're done appliqueing, or it washes out when you're done embroidering.

So for this little block, I used it in two places...for the pumpkin applique and itsembroidery embellishment, and for the embroidery directly on the block itself.



And, I'm almost embarrassed to say, I'm working on a third block of the month, a Dear Jane, which happens to be my third attempt at Dear Jane! Tomorrow, more about my adventures with preparing some of those blocks.

Stars for a New Day!

Another top done! This one I'm very happy with, for how my fabrics and colours turned out, for sticking with each border, and for not losing any of the stars for the last border, that were pieced over the course of several months!

Stars for a New Day is designed by Sue Garman, offered as a block of the month by The Quilt Show for 2009. It took me a long time to get up the gumption to take on this quilt...the fabric choices just seemed so overwhelming...there was nothing I didn't like about the original, and I wanted mine to end up pretty close to that! I started my quilt last fall, so it did end up taking me about a year.



This quilt did turn out kinda wonky, unfortunately. I have had the good luck or good sewing skills to always end up with a nice square flat quilt top. I'm not quite sure why this one has a few ripples, I'm hoping to quilt them out.

Roll Roll Cotton Boll

I got the pieced borders sewn together and on to Roll Roll Cotton Boll, designed by Bonnie Hunter, so another top done! I went a little bit crazy in planning quilts while I couldn't do any actual sewing, so I'm busy putting together tops that are almost done, just so I can get to my new projects! Stars for a New Day just needs the final plain borders sewn on, and that's another top. I have to start quilting soon, as my tops are quickly becoming inventory in my sewing room (10 tops to quilt....how did I let that happen!? ... some are not as well liked as others, and have been lurking on the to be quilted list for more than a couple of years). I need to find some large space in my new home, so I can get a top sandwiched, more boxes and stuff to unpack...yuck.


I had been thinking to give Roll Roll Cotton Boll to my nephew, who will be 15 in a few months...but my niece is interested in it too. It would a surprise for my nephew, and I really do think it would suit him better...its large, about 70" x 85". I had better find another quilt, done or almost done, for my niece.

Two mystery quilts ready for reveal!

I had lots of practice sewing with my left foot as I worked on the machine applique for eight blocks of the mystery quilt that's being run by Quilters Newsletter. The quilt is called Garden Delight, written by Nancy Mahoney. There sure was a lot of variety in this quilt! Small pieceing, easy piecing, applique, and a challenging compass. Now, all the sewn parts are ready for the reveal when the next issue arrives in a month or two. I haven't fully completed the centre compass as I'm still thinking about the green fabrics that the pattern calls for; in this case, I think I'd like to wait till I see the quilt's complete layout.



I had put aside the fabrics for the quilt to work on during the move, not much required for storage and still gave me an opportunity to do a bit of sewing. The other mystery quilt that I ended up doing was the one in Quiltmaker, written by Debbie Caffrey, called Secret Window. I fell in love with the new flannel line at Connecting Threads called Sunny Day (they have now introduced another similar new flannel line!); at about the same time my niece announced she is expecting twins!! So I thought I'd order the fabric for the mystery and have another little project to work on while other stuff was in storage...this I might complete as one quilt, or use the quilt layout as presented and my ever-helpful Electric Quilt to produce two quilts for the babies to come.

I put the parts to this quilt out on the floor to take a picture, and, ummm, it doesn't look like much. And I have a lot of fabric leftover.....I'll have to take a look through the magazines and see if I missed a part :) Unfortunately, I didn't have as much contrast in two of the fabrics I chose and you can just barely see the pattern in the main blocks. This quilt will be revealed on the web, tomorrow, and in their next issue.

do you sew with your left or right foot?

Well, I mean which foot do you use to operate the sewing machine foot pedal?

I've always used my right foot, but am learning to use my left foot. This is because after months of not sewing much at all (I can hardly believe that it was April that I last posted on the blog!), I finally got a chance to do some piecing, then I had an accident with my foot and some glass cooking dishes, resulting in a nasty wound and several stitches.

I haven't been making much using the machines as we have moved to a new home. The move process was something I would not want to repeat! Being without a sewing room for months, followed by trying to re-settle, then some very trying not-our-fault legal issues to do with the sale of our old house....finally able to get serious about quilting, only to be stalled again due to my foot....no wonder I'm learning to sew with my left! Desperation can sure lead to learning new skills!


Oddly enough, the first thing I've caught up on is "Consider the Lilies", which was my last posting in April! This free b.o.m. is offered by Val Laird; the message and the design have been just what I needed over the past while.

Consider the Lilies, part 3

This is about all I accomplished this week. I packed part one, so I can't yet put together the block. The block series is presented by Val Laird.

Stars and Sprigs

It seems like a very long time since I last sat down at my sewing machine! Weeks of cleaning, de-cluttering, and packing....the house sold, and we've bought a new home which we'll move into in mid-June. The boxes of projects I had put aside, the notions and thread, have been sorted through again, and I've re-acquainted myself with them.

I sewed the first row of stars for "Stars and Sprigs" by Kim MacLean. I had been working on the applique blocks by hand, finishing three, all the while considering the wonderful applique borders which to me just makes this quilt as wonderful as it is. I know that I will not have the patience to work those borders by hand, and I don't want to end up editing the quilt to avoid doing so! Today I made one of the applique blocks by fusible machine applique, and I think that will work nicely, especially knowing that I'll have at least a chance at the borders :) I do still have several hand work projects to do when once again I have to pack up my machine for the move, and while I wait to put together a sewing studio (larger than the old one!).

We completed the sewing room re-do about a week ago, but I've been too discombubalated to post pictures. I am so tired of cleaning, and sorting, and packing - I really can't believe how much stuff we had stuffed in this house (after find a dresser full of old blankets and sheets, I was wondering if I had hoarder tendencies!). My husband took the last load of boxes to his folks, who are storing it in their basement, and he came home and looked around and said he was suprised we had anything left. But we do! I can live much simpler than I have been. Much of the "stuff" were things put away with a "this will be useful one day" idea, or the kids might need or want this...but a lot of that is now gone, decisions made. Three more days till the for sale sign goes out front!

Here are some pictures of the long wall and nook in my now "old" sewing room - the wall is about 8 feet long. The real estate agent took a look at it and I wish I could have taken a picture of the disbelief on his face! The wall opposite isn't usable for much - it has the nook, and the entrance to a powder room. My husband has taken down all the shelves, and is repainting - and putting on the baseboard that I was too impatient to have installed when the room was being built! Soon I'll have pictures of my room transformed to a kind of office.