How did I not notice this?!

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Just Takes 2 Schoolhouse Quilt

This package arrived for me last week, from Pink Chalk Fabrics.  It is January's charm and solids pack of the month, which I ordered on a trial basis.  Two charm packs and coordinating fat eighth solids.



It's wonderful, and full of inspiration.  I only wish I could continue the subscription, but I have to be honest with myself that I already have too much stuff calling my name!

I realized that the colours in these fabrics would be wonderful for the sampler blocks inside the dark brown schoolhouse.  And while looking for a possible sky fabric, I found a bright large print that was mean to be a backing but matched the colours of  Honey Honey pretty much perfect.  I just don't know if I want to make a commitment for something this different than my usual style!

Grrrrr... Easy Street!

I haven't got very far on the stitching in the ditch part of quilting Stars for a New Day...and I woke up Friday (snow day!) with the idea of sitting and piecing the blocks for Easy Street.  It took me till dinner time Friday to complete all the blocks...I do take lots of breaks :).  Then I tackled the setting triangles yesterday morning.  I was putting the setting triangles together by row, and when I got to the last row, I realized I was short 12 triangles!  And, much to my sutprise, I couldn't find any of that green, just nowhere.

 I had already made the decision to use the same green throughout the setting triangles, so a different green is going to really stick out if I use it in the same place throughout the setting blocks...even if its a green used in the quilt elsewhere.   I guess my only choice is to un-sew the the little triangle at the other end, and replace it with the new green, so that there is the same green at each end of the larger triangle.  And then I might have to change out the corner tip green on the corner triangles.  Arrggghh.  In the mean time, I'm going to put it all away and hope that I run into some more of the original setting triangle fabric.

 

Beginning is always the hardest!

I`m about to embark on quilting Stars for a New Day (finally!).  While pinning the sandwich yesterday, I was wondering just how I did such a good job in picking fabrics!  I love this quilt, and I think I was a lot more adventurous in fabric mixing then, than I have been since.  The only thing I would change is perhaps the dark centre star fabric, maybe a little too Christmas-y looking.



This is a big quilt, 85`square, with lots of borders, many small pieces in the stars, and I`m sure challenges ahead in what I`ll use from my quilting arsenal.  I`ll start wtih stitch in the ditch around the borders and the centre medallion, then hopefully I`ll have some ideas by then!



 

While I was working up the courage to put that quilt under the needle, I cut out the fabrics for SherrI Falls' Mystery Monday.

 



I did one of these last year, and I found it was a great way to use those small pieces of fabric that are wonderful but not big enough for a quilt.  Its easy to follow along as she makes a small quilt, and really nothing to lose except fabric that may have just continued to sit in your stash!

Two great new online programs!

Every new year brings an abundance of new on-line block of the month projects...so many great quilts of all sizes, different techniques, and inspirational colour ideas!  I start collecting them, not sure which I will actually commit to.  I came close to working on Jingle by Erin Russek, and Fanciful Four Square by Lynn Brown...but then came Whooo Knows by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns.

My daughter was home for the weekend and nearby when I first saw the owls in this quilt...and Wendy was quickly looking over my shoulder as I exclaimed about this quilt.  She immediately asked if I would make it for her...and I said, sure  if you can wait awhile...it will be your Christmas 2014 gift!   To make it even better for me, I was able to find enough fabrics in my stash to get going on it, and I just need to supplement some more brown in a few months.  Me, without enough of the right browns!!  Here`s a pic of the first block I finished yesterday.

The next series that grabbed my attention on Friday was the new Just Takes 2 program, a schoolhouse sampler.  You can see the details here.   Gay and Brenda presented such great blocks last year in their original Just Takes 2 quilt, I knew I had to take part in this one as well.  And a schoolhouse quilt has been on my wish-list for years.

I went through my stash and decided on a rich dark solid brown for the schoolhouses and scrappy pinks for the sampler blocks...but after making the first block it didn`t look as good as I had hoped.  So I found a great dark blue print  for the schoolhouses, and I think I`ll stick with the pink as a the second colour.  Hopefully I`ll have the first block done by the end of the week!

Daydream on the Farm...finished!

Weekend sewing

Before I show pictures of some sewing I did this weekend, I'd like to comment that my camera seems to  be not taking very good pictures! I've had this camera for years, and while I don't think its possible for a digital camera to "break", there definitely is something off with the colour and exposure of the pictures its taking.  So, a little tweaking in a photo program is needed, but I still think that I haven't got a very true picture!

On Friday, I was able to put together the third row of Jacqueline's Album.



Then I tackled the centre of my version of Stars and Sprigs.  Because of the lost applique blocks, and because mentally I had put block making for this quilt far behind me, I decided to make the quilt square.  This actually works out ok for me, as it was already getting very big...it will finish at about 90" square.  I have a good idea on a pieced border,  that will take a bit of time and a lot of math, so I'm not sure where it sits on "the list".  In the mean time, I know I have a centre pieced and the border fabrics saved.



 

I've been working way on the quilting of Daydream on the Farm.  All these pieced blocks gave me a challenge for how to quilt them.  I don't much like stitching in the ditch with a free motion foot, so I decided to highlight the piecing by connecting curved lines to various part of the block, as shown in the few blocks in the picture below.



 

This week I'd like to get the quilting finished for Daydream on the Farm, and I'm working on the third embroidery block for Snow Day!.

 

 

 

I'm missing four blocks!

I'm laying out the stars and sprigs quilt, and have discovered I'm missing four blocks...four applique sprig blocks!  I'm scratching my head and just standing in my sewing room trying to figure out where they went.  I know  I sewed them!  At least I think I know I sewed them, lol.  Well this puts a damper on my day.

 

Stencils...finding my way!

I think I finally have a name for this quilt...Daydream on the Farm.  Blocks from the Farmer's Wife quilt by Laurie Hird, setting and centre applique from the pattern From the Heart by Lori Smith.

I picture the farmer's wife, as seen through the letters in Laurie's book, standing in her yard, or at her kitchen window, surrounded by all the chores of the day, but also surrounded by the completed work her and her family have done.  She also sees beauty and peace in the fields,  in the birds and trees, and the security of life on the farm.



This quilt has numerous plain setting squares...something I've been afraid to put into any of my quilts for many years!  I knew I would want to fill it with a stencil, but that was the problem.  Following a line while free motion quilting was one of the very last skills I accomplished...and I'm still not very good at it.  The usual method of using a stencil, by brushing or pouncing on white chalk, just didn't work for me.  Either the line was too thick to follow, or too thin to see.  And all those broken lines which are part of any stencil just confused me further.  I tried golden threads paper done in a stack, and sewn through the line to make numerous perforated patterns to follow.  That didn't work either, again I couldn't see the line!  Drawing the stencil line directly on to the quilt block doesn't work either, I'm too afraid of leaving a permanent mark (although the new Frixion pens might help here.)

So finally I decided to draw a stencil pattern for each block that needed it.  Yep, it took time, but it was well worth it, to me!  After drawing the stencil on the paper, I connected some lines to make it easier for me to follow.  In this example, while it is continuous line, there are 2 loops through the pattern, so I made circuit 1 a solid line and left the breaks on the lines for circuit 2.  I also marked the 1 and 2 points to make me stay on track!  I find that its best to make the paper bigger than necessary, to make sure I have enough to hold  the paper in place, and then only 2 pins are necessary.  The paper comes off easily if  I'm wearing my quilting gloves, as that gives a bit more grip for brushing away the paper bits.



 

I have stitched in the ditch in between all the blocks,outlined the applique, and have now have all the stencil blocks complete.  I think I'll do some piecing today while I percolate some ideas on how to quilt the pieced blocks.

 

 

A Jacqueline's Album block

This little block took what seemed an eternity to sew!  First, I made a poor decision about prep for this block.  Looking at the house, I thought it might be best to just make templates to trace on the right side of the fabric, instead of back basting.  But, I decided to backbaste and then proceeded to baste the house parts in the wrong order, more than a few times!  Lori  Smith makes great applique designs and does not mark the sewing order..this block could have used one, however I too could have been a bit smarter about it :)

I did finally get the layering I think correct for how a house would be built.  Then the windows were appliqued with a dark brown fabric, but I ripped those out because it was just too dark and overwhelming...I didn't want the house to appear it was night time!  So I embroidered the windows.  And I decided to take a risk and reverse applique the black "ovals" on the flowers, which meant very carefully cutting just the one layer of flower fabric to reveal the black underneath.    The little gate in front of the house was supposed to have pointed picket style posts, but mine ended up round.  Then those little tiny berries were the icing on the cake for my frustration level...even using plastic circle templates was difficult due to the size.  This block spent a lot of time on my table in between sewing, I just got stubborn for a day or two in between each challenge.

The funny thing about all this is that no-one is going to be examining each applique block in a quilt as closely as I do!  No one would have noticed if the roof didn't overlap the house itself, or which part of the house overlapped the other, or if the fence posts were pointed or not!

Easy Street...all packed up!

I wonder how many participants have completed their Easy Street quilts...and how many have got so far then put it away for another day  .   The blocks are easily broken up into four patch units, and what I would call centre 2 patch units.  So I got all those sewn, made the four corner setting triangles, and did a count of the remaining parts to make sure I had enough to complete the remaining setting triangles.  I ended up using the same green for all the setting blocks, as I was pretty much out of a good enough assortment of greens.

Then I packed the block parts, the sewn example block, and the block picture, into bags...three bags, one for block A, one for block B, and one for setting triangles.    I even remembered a binding fabric...I think I have enough of the brown to use, but I think a pink might be good too.  Still a lot of sewing to go before this quilt gets put together!

[caption id="attachment_1311" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Easy Street, block A[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1312" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Easy Street setting triangles[/caption]

I've been on a sewing break

I've taken the last week or more to just not sew or quilt....but I have done a bit of hand applique and embroidery.  I am more worn out than I thought from Christmas and the various family happenings, so I've taken a bit of time out from the sewing room.  When I do this, I usually spend some time browsing through my saved quilting files, my EQ projects, and of course lots of quilty web sites!

I think I really need a change.  I want to break from my usual style of reproduction and country style fabrics....I still have plenty to use up but every time I see a pattern that might work, I think, meh!  (that's my daughter's word for so who cares!).  I also know that I have way too many full sized quilts, lol, both as tops and as almost finished tops.  I want to make smaller wallhangings and minis, and use some of those designs I have in EQ.  I need some fresh fabrics to get me started!

In the meantime, I've stepped back into the sewing room and the Easy Street pieces are all over the place!  So I'll spend today and tomorrow sewing up some more units that will make up the blocks, which will reduce the piles, and then I can put it away for a rainy day to finish.

I also started, just barely started, quilting a top that has no name....Farmer's Wife blocks set into a pattern by Lori Smith.  Once I get the stitch in the ditch done, I think I'll have fun with the rest!



 

Some piecing and quilting!

My son came home from hospital yesterday afternoon, and until his next surgery at the end of the week, he is happily in his cave with his technology at hand!  My daughter has cleaned out her cupboards from all gluten items that she might crave, and reports that she is managing ok and even found a decent gluten free chocolate chip cookie :)  And, my kitchen is at the stage where it is definitely functional, much better than the old design, just waiting for floors and trim and touch up paint.

So I got to go into my sewing room without much distraction and quilt finally on my Horizon that came back from the tech on Christmas Eve.

I quilted a stippling design on the small brown squares, and a free-flowing leaf vine on the outer border area...all without one thread break!  My horizon was just like she used to be!

 



Next on my really want to do list was Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street.  I really wanted to see what my blocks might look like.  Well, first I realized that some of my greens were just far too yellow for the rest of the fabrics, so they had to go away.   Then I realized I lost or maybe didn't cut the setting triangles.  I hope I have enough of the other greens left to make up for what I'm not going to use and what I still need to cut.  Anyway, the blocks show some potential to be one of the ugliest quilts I've ever made, lol, or just an interesting scrap quilt.  We'll see!

Happy New Year!

Its been a very busy time in our home so nothing to post about quilting!  My daughter has been home for the past ten days or so, my husband decided that Boxing Day would be the perfect time to start the kitchen reno (who would say no that?!) and then my son wound up in hospital on Sunday with a collapsed lung (a spontaneous condition apparently caused by the fact that he's very tall very skinny and very caucasian, lol).  Surgery fixed him up, but since this is the second occurence in two years (one in each lung), they're keeping him in hospital till next week when they will do some kind of preventitive procedure.  And the hospital is now a 30 minute drive from home!  I nearly have a fantastic kitchen, my daughter is learning to deal with her gluten intolerance, and we have great medical care for my son, so I think it is a great start to a New Year!  Blessings to all!