Until they meet again....

Yesterday afternoon I started quilting the Farmer's Wife meets Jane quilt...a nice sort of decorative stitch that stills goes forward only for dual feed, in the sashings of the centre part of this quilt.  A little voice in my head starts saying... I don't like this quilt, I don't like this quilt...the sashings are boring, the setting triangles are boring, and yes I shouldn't have put a final border on it cause then it would be way too big (over 100" square)...I don't like this quilt.

This morning I continued along with the stitching on the sashings, now the little voice is saying...this is an ugly quilt...what a waste of batting...and backing.

So what do I do?  Take apart the quilt sandwich, trying to save as much of the centre part of the batting and backing where the stitching was done...the stitch I had chose made it very difficult to do this...then sit on the porch in the shade on a very warm morning and start taking the quilt apart, sections first.

What transformation will these blocks see next???

Show and Tell catch-up

I've been sewing my stitch reference samples for the Stupendous Stitching class.  This exercise helped me become familiar with the variety of stitches on my Janome and just how they might be altered.  Definitely some music or talk radio is needed in the background while stitching these - and the sew-without-a-footpedal button helps too!

I'm now half way through the applique blocks for Stars and Sprigs...20 completed, but I need to sew some stars to catch up on those.

I love all the designs in Kathy Schmitz's book, Simple Pleasures in Redwork.  After some starts and stops on a few, I finally settled on the Summer Reigns wallhanging...one block complete!

The May second part blocks of Just Takes 2 got done by the end of last month.  Kind of happy to see no applique in the first half of June blocks!

And, I've been playing with wool applique scraps.  I've come up with a few ideas, and planned a few, and finally settled (I think!) on Meadow Breeze my Pat Sloan...I like this setting and I think I have enough scraps to make all the appliques.  This is the centre block, not yet stitched.

Tomorrow, its piecing day!  The first part June Just Takes 2 blocks, catch up on stars for Stars and Sprigs, and maybe start on Laura's quilt border.


The Farmer's Wife Meets Jane quilt is still sitting on the spare bed, waiting for inspiration.

Stitch good thoughts!

Hmmmmm

I've had the Farmer's Wife meets Jane quilt sandwiched and basted and ready for quilting, but I'm stuck.  For the past several days I've been looking at it trying to determine just how I'm going to quilt it. So many different blocks grids, styles, and sizes.  Sashing.  No border.  Needs a bit of "uummpph" on the setting triangles I think.

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An all over diagonal grid?  Free motion something in the sashing then machine tying in the blocks?  An overall meander or stipple wouldn't be formal enough I think...  then, hmmmm..

Some assembly required

Two quilt centres sewn together...

The going-away-to-university quilt for my neice Laura, from the pattern High Cotton by Kim Diehl

And, the Antique Sampler centre blocks sewn ...I had to see it this way! Couldn`t fit the bottom row into the picture...I still can`t believe I hand sewed all those blocks (but I did machine piece them together!)

It`s been a great morning...finishing up these centres, and I found a great sale on a perfect blue print which is for finishing the Dear Jane, and a couple of half yards of batik that I think will be good for Stupendous Stitching!

Stitch good thoughts!

Stupdendous Stitching...a Craftsy class

The past week or so I've been working on Laura's quilt...which is now nothing like I had planned, but instead is from a pattern by Kim Diehl.  My "swirly layer cake" idea was a good one, just wrong choice of the accent colour, it was too muddy and when I laid out a few rows, the overall design wasn't coming through.

I'm nearing 80 blocks needed for the Kim Diehl pattern (simple blocks!), and now my mind is wandering with what next?  Lots of tops I'm looking forward to quilting...a few quilts that need more piecing or assembly... some garment sewing I'd like to do.  But nothing was getting me going with plans in my head...the fun of deciding how I'm going to quilt something, or the steps closer to finishing a top.

Into my mail box landed an email from Craftsy, describing a class called Stupendous Stitching...watching the previews, I realized this was just what I needed to get out of a rut I've been in with all my traditional  and pattern following.  Just play!  With all the threads I've collected, and all the stitches on my Horizon.  I'm not saying I'm going to become an art quilter (ha!), but I do think this class will make me stretch creatively and give me some things to think about, even in my approach to traditional quilting.

Honoring Emma, finished!

I finished this quilt on Friday.....I thought I had already posted its picture, but I guess I got too involved in the Antique Sampler blocks!  The quilt blocks were designed by Lori Smith, but I arranged them differently from her pattern (actually this is the third arrangement these blocks have been into!).

Antique Sampler, centre blocks all done!

It's a beautiful Victoria Day weekend here, even a little too warm yesterday!  I enjoyed a few early mornings sewing outside on the deck, and finished the last of the centre blocks for the Antique Sampler, designed by Sue Daley.

64 - six inch blocks, and 9 - twelve inch blocks, each with a reverse applique background, four each of sixteen different motifs on the centre,  plus three more motifs for the larger blocks, each either english paper pieced and appliqued or just appliqued.  A lot of hand sewing!!

I fell in love with this quilt just as it is shown in the pattern picture.  There was nothing I wanted to change...except maybe the centre block (which I did, by not including the red circles on the tree).  It isn't often I see a quilt that I want just like it is, with no, well I would do this colour, or this arrangement, or that border.  I could never have kept my commitment to this quilt without doing it as a block of the month - Quilters Paradise in Clovis, California, did a wonderful job on the monthly kits; offering lots of variety of fabrics in good sizes.  Next to sew are all the outside border tongues, these are made from the fabrics that were cut from the blocks when preparing the reverse applique.