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?