Getting Unstuck

 I have been stuck. Stuck trying to find a way forward with my sewing. I do understand that it comes and it goes and I'm not worried I will never sew again or anything weird like that. And I know why I'm stuck. Grief can do that to a person. I do have some days where I sew, and I enjoy it. Other days, I don't feel like doing anything at all. I have a couple of projects in process. One, I can't seem to muster any enthusiasm for right now, and that's okay. It's more of a winter looking quilt.

My temperature quilt is one I am slowly plodding along with. I at least update the charted temps every week or so. I know I will sew them up eventually. I did some last week and am now mostly caught up.

This is January and February. I have decided to do each month as a calendar page. Whenever there is extra space in the month, I will use a piece of fabric that represents the month. Here, January is white on white that looks like snow, and February is hearts.

This is March, which has shamrocks for St. Patrick's day. Can you see how the temperature colors are changing?

This is April. April showers are represented here. Now, each month has 5 horizontal rows, but because of the way things fell in April, the 30th was all alone in a sixth row. I checked the rest of the year and it was the only one like that. So, I opted to split the last block between the 29th and the 30th. I know they usually do this on a diagonal line, but the houses don't lend themselves to that. So I guess I am caught up for the first time on this project.

Then, I got a bee in my bonnet, unlike anything else recently. I started a new project and finished the quilt top in one week.

This is from the book, Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison. One of my all time favorite quilt books. I go to it a lot for inspiration. This is the High Five quilt. Amanda Jean's version is totally scrappy and I do love the look of hers. But I used some scraps and some yardage that I was looking for a way to use. I also made it a few rows shorter that in the book. I am very happy with how it turned out and now I just have to find the energy to pin baste it so I can quilt it. This got me a little unstuck.

What really got me unstuck though, was this quilt.

I started this quilt two years ago. I made the top while living in California. My plan was to have it available to quilt when I moved home. I finally basted it, using thread basting, because I had thought to hand quilt with Perle Cotton and big stitches. Until two days ago, I stopped and started many times. I really wasn't into it and working on it was a struggle. You cannot do something you are not enjoying. 

I called on a friend of mine for help. I said I don't know what to do. She said she had only hand quilted one quilt in her life and that was one too many. That really struck me. I had hand quilted many quilts back in the day before I learned to quilt on my home machine. But hearing her say this freed me somehow.

I spent a couple of hours picking out all the hand quilting I had done. It was somehow satisfying to cut those stitches and pull the threads out.

I wanted, and needed a quick and easy finish. So I did an all-over large sort of stipple. Remember stipple quilting? It used to be so popular when we were all learning how to free motion quilt. I loved it!! The quilt is soft, and crinkly. It was enough.

I found a half yard cut from the same fabric line and did the binding. The entire process of quilting and binding took me about7-ish hours. I can't tell you how good it feels to have this one done! But I'm sure you know.

Have a great rest of your week.

Two Finished Tops

 Well, I have buckled down and finished two quilt tops in the last couple of days. One of them has been lying around since about February I think. The other was one of those that I got a bee in my bonnet to do so I did it in a couple of weeks time.

This was where I left off with this one. I call it my Heather Ross quilt because of the rose prints. I had enough to make 18 of each color. I did two different layouts and asked my IG followers for advice.

This one was the unanimous choice. So I stacked them up in order, put them in a project box and that was it until this week.

Here is the finished top. It took me two days to get this put together. I am so easily distracted these days, and I kept getting up and walking away, but now it's done.

I had just enough of the fabrics left to give it a small border, which I think it needed. It is about 42 inches square. So now it will sit a bit until I get a backing and am ready to baste for quilting.

The other quilt top I finished was the one from No Scrap Left behind. I really wanted that one finished so I can start to plan how I want to quilt it.

I had all these strip sets (72) to attach to a larger rectangle. I normally don't pin much, but I needed these to come together perfectly so the blocks would match up when they were finished.

This is one of the completed blocks. Half of them had a blue center, and half of them had a pink center.

And here is the completed top. I am proud to say that all the strips came from my scrap stash. I only cut into yardage for the large rectangles.

The pink rectangles, you may notice are different shades of pink. They are from the original V and Co. ombre line of fabric. This chunk has been in my stash for about 5 years I think.

So now that I have two tops done, I am back to working on my Dear Dottie quilt top. I have about 50 more curved pieces to assemble, then I can make the 4 patch pieces. After that, it's lay out time and I have a map for that from Rachel. It's all based on color value. So, easy peasy.

I will talk to you soon and have more progress shots.

Yellow Yellow Yellow

Yellow has long been my favorite color. It is sunny, warm and happy. I love all yellows. I have long had quite a stash of yellows, and when it starts to get low, I panic a wee bit and buy some more. I know this is my aesthetic, and not everyone's, but I try and incorporate it whenever I can.

When Cheryl and Amanda Jean released Sunday Morning Quilts, I learned about making slabs out of scraps. I loved the idea. I ran a flickr bee where we used the book as inspiration for three years. A lot of great quilts came out of that bee. But when that finished, I still hadn't had enough of slabs. I decided to start a yellow slab and see where it took me. That was 5-6 years ago and I am sorry to say that project has languished in a bin for quite some time. Yesterday I decided to pull it out and see how it made me feel.

 This is the big chunk I have done so far. So many of these fabrics are so old. Some ten or more years old. Some nearly 20 years old. I am so happy to see them again, like old friends. I remember buying them at my LQS, which has since closed. It melts my heart a bit.

Yesterday I made the strip on the left to add to the big chunk. I am thinking this will end up a comfortable lap size quilt.

 I still have quite a few strip pieces that I am debating exactly what to do with. I don't want just a bunch of long strips, so I may sub cut them after joining them together.

And I still have a bunch of smaller scraps as well. The goal is to use all of these up. I haven't yet decided if I will use any of my more recent yellow scraps, which all live in another different bin. Those scraps are more tame, as I began cutting my scraps into usable sizes a few years ago, so 2.5 inch strips, 2.5 inch squares, 3.5 inch squares and 5 inch squares. I did save a very few odd sizes, but not many. I did this with all my colors.

 As I was sewing and pressing seams, I saw this small strip of aqua colored Newspaper Butterflies left from a recent project, and decided to add it into the slab for just a wee bit of interest among all the yellow pieces.

And when I trimmed it to fit, I had this one small square, which ended up in a log cabin block that I love. This will also be incorporated into the slab, once I decide it has enough logs on it.

I am truly enjoying working on this once again. It is fresh and new for me and I am thinking of ways to quilt it, some machine, some hand embellishment. I am excited with this. I needed to find something to re-energize my sewing. I was in a funk. This may just have been the ticket out of the funk. Off to sew now. See you soon with an update and hopefully a finished top!

36 Patch Progress

So much going on here. This Saturday I am going to do my first ever craft fair. I am so excited for this. I have been making bags and pouches and other small goodies to sell. I am hoping this will be a way to make a bit of money to restock my sewing needs.

I am doing a bunch of other sewing as well. I am slowly amassing 36 patch blocks for my next quilt. I have long wanted to make a second one of these, after doing a quilt along with Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts about 8 years ago now. This time, I am doing blocks that are made of my most favorite fabrics and designers. But only what is in my stash.

Amy Butler

 Sarah Jane

 Rae Hoekstra

Farm Fresh





















Bonnie and Camille

Now I have 17 of the 36 blocks finished. Back to the stash to find some more pairs to cut and sew.
I have finished and mailed my Hands 2 Help quilts for Jack's Basket yesterday so that project is done. I will be sharing those quilts with you soon.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a couple of roses out of my sister's garden. I will talk to  you soon.

Kingfisher Quilt

So, finally, my Kingfisher quilt is finished. Totally finished, washed, dried and spread out on my bed where I can just stare at it.

 Yesterday I finished the quilting of it. I quilted it on my Bernina 440 QE. I used my walking foot and quilted along either side of the seams between the diamonds, and then I quilted 3 lines in each angled direction through the center of each hexagon. I messed up in the second row I was doing and spaced the lines too far apart. Rather than pick out all the stitches, I incorporated that into the design and did wider lines in every other row.

And then I bound it. I used the umbrella print from the Charleston line that I had used for the borders. I wanted a dark blue, and then I remembered I had this print and plenty of it for a change. So that's what I used and I am pretty happy with it.

 Here it is, all crinkly from the dryer. I love the amount of crinkle it got. Not too much in the center, but plenty around the border.

 I set my machine to do a wavy zigzag line for the borders. Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts showed this on one of her quilts one time, and I loved it. I have used it a couple of times. This is the first time I've used it like this, but I love the look of the border.

 Not all the stitching is perfectly centered, because when I appliqued the hexie flowers onto the diamonds, I just eyeballed it. Probably should have measured it to make sure, but, oh well.

 I had two chunks of red fabric in my backing pile. Both were two yards, so I chose the stripes for the biggest part and used half of the width of the circles for the rest. I think it worked out great.

And there we have it, all done and labeled. Have a great Labor Day weekend. Talk to you soon.

Swooning Over Pillows

What do you do when you have two square European pillows from a guest bed you no longer have? You make Swoon blocks as covers to make big floor pillows. My sister had these when we moved in and since our room is no longer the guest room, she asked if we could cover them for floor pillows for the living room. It was a great idea as they are the perfect size. She chose the fabric from my stash and we added some Kona solids for the edges and the back, which is just an envelope closure.

 I love the Swoon pattern. I love it even more when I can make and quilt one block. These pillows are the perfect use for this block if you have never made one.

 I quilted each of them the same, with the lines crossing in the very center to add some interest to the otherwise rather large, plain area.

 Then I quilted around the other parts of the outside star. This was to add definition and to anchor the batting to the inside. I always quilt a pillow top. Not so the back of a pillow.

              They even look good outside on the patio.

And now they are ready for use on the living room floor. Have a great weekend. Link up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Two Weeks Left

I have two weeks left, living in my home of 23+ years. I alternate between excitement at this new adventure in my life, and sadness at leaving what I have come to know and love in this place. The sewing room is all packed up now, even the machines.

Amanda Jean has been working on reducing the number of WIPs in her studio, so I thought I would see what I have that needs a finish. I plan to work on these things as soon as I am set up on the left coast. And just so we're clear, I will also start a few new projects too. The ideas are coming on fast and strong. Change of venue might be the best thing my creativity has had in years.

 First of course, my Penny Sampler. I will be in transit without my supplies for the first half of April, but am excited to see what the month's assignment will be.

 A small quilt to play with circles. This one just needs quilting. I am thinking of some very dense quilting for this, just to play and practice.

 This sweet plus quilt is so cute. It also is a finished top that needs quilting. I will need to figure out how to quilt it once I pull it out again.

 This small quilt is for my middle daughter. She had requested some small wall hanging quilts for her home. I have a whole box of fabrics that she picked out to make them with and a Pinterest board full of ideas. I need to decide how to quilt this one.

 This is my clambake quilt. I started this when I was home fighting cancer. I had cut out all the clams in one week, and began sewing. As fatigue set in, I lost the energy and the desire to work on it. I have since added many rows, but still more to go. My youngest daughter has asked for this one when it is done. It is a quilt as you go project, done with Rachel of Stitched In Color. Clearly some of my clam shells are not as smoothly rounded as others, but...practice, practice, practice.

 This is one I made to use up a jelly roll I had won a few years back. I love how it turned out. It is also for my youngest. It just needs quilting and binding. I think maybe a curved quilting design.

 This big thing is one I started about 15 years ago. I picked out all the hand quilting and need to add the last rows and machine quilt it. My skills have improved since I started this, so finishing it may be a challenge since the seams are not all flat on the stars. I really want to finish this, my oldest WIP.

 This is the small wall quilt made from Amy Gibson's Quilt Block Cookbook. It also just needs quilting. I haven't quite figured out the quilting yet. Maybe some stitch in the ditch and a bit of fancy work in the white space.

 And here is the very last quilt block sewn in my North Carolina sewing room home. The last of the ittty bitty blocks. This one was pretty tough. You can tell I put the top together wrong and had to rip it and re-sew it. These tiny blocks are truly skill builders. Patience and precision.

And here they are, all together. Some I love, and might make a few more of those. Some, not so much. Thanks for being here and hanging out. The sewing room will open up on the left coast as soon as all my stuff gets there. I hope to see you there.