Dear Dottie

 Last year, I decided to join in with Rachel, of Stitched in Color, to do the Dear Dottie QAL. I really wanted to do this pattern, but I had tons of projects on my plate, so I did the baby size quilt, hoping to revisit the pattern and make a larger quilt. Eventually.

This is my Baby size Dear Dottie. I made this on totally scrappy. Technically I guess it's a charm quilt, since no fabric is repeated here. I used up lots of my 5 inch charms in this quilt. I totally love it.

Then, I saw a picture of a Dear Dottie in a limited color pallet. I fell in love with it and wanted to do one as well. But I waited a bit, trying to figure out what colors. Or what fabrics. Or something. I finally found some fabrics that I loved and added a few from my stash. 

I have to say, I think it is harder to limit your fabrics than to go all scrappy. Any time I couldn't decide on a fabric, I would think "it needs more variety". Then I would stop and remind myself that the point was to limit the fabrics and the pallet in this one.

I finally finished that quilt this week and here it is now. I posted the small one above for the sake of comparison.

The other thing I did different was to add a narrow border to this quilt. I just really felt like it needed one.

The top and bottom borders are both dark blue, but two different fabrics. The two sides I made different.

This Dear Dottie is so much softer in color tone and also has less quilting which makes it literally softer than the small one. I knew the small one would be a wall hanging, so I quilted it rather densely.

This is most of the back of the quilt. I didn't have enough for the whole thing, so I added a strip of red down one side. I didn't get a picture of that.

I am very pleased with the result, and happy that this second Dear Dottie quilt is done so I can enjoy it.

I will see you soon. There are two more quilts pin basted and ready to be quilted.

Dear Dottie #2

 I have finally finished my second Dear Dottie quilt top. I think I know how I'm going to quilt it, so all I need is a backing now and I can pin baste.

Here she is in all her glory! When I made my first Dear Dottie, I made the baby size and I made it completely scrappy. No fabric used more than once. And I loved it, still do. But then I saw one on Instagram that used a more limited pallet and I couldn't get it out of my mind. So I decided to try it.

I found a bundle of fabrics from a collection I had in my stash, and I pulled a few others to add to it. I had to restrain myself from adding too much. I kept telling myself what I had would be enough. And truly I found limiting the amount of fabrics to be more difficult than just putting something else in that I felt it called for. In the end, I'm glad I did limit my fabrics. I love the effect.

I think I struggled when so many of the blocks were the same, or similar. That's where I had to tell myself it was fine and it looked good. And I think it does.

So, I now have 3 quilt tops completed and needing backs and quilting. It's going to take a while to get that done, but I love them all and cannot wait to see them quilted and on the bed. I hope you have a good rest of your week. Talk to you soon.

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.

More Quilts In Progress

 So now I am here to talk about my other two quilts in progress. The first on is my Dear Dottie quilt. This is the second Dear Dottie I am making from Rachel Hauser's pattern. It is all about the curves.

My first version was scrappy. This time, I wanted to make a larger quilt and control the colors a bit. Theses four stacks represent the colors I am using for this version of the quilt. It has been "resting" in a project box for a bit. I have been struggling a bit to stay engaged with some of my projects. I have had days where I don't feel like sewing. I have now made myself a goal to finish the quilt tops I am working on. Then, I will baste them and quilt them, all one after another.

These are blocks for what I am thinking of as my Heather Ross quilt. For some reason, these early pictures are the only ones on my computer right now. I know there are more somewhere.

I have already sewn these into blocks and they are about 6 1/2 inches square. I have enough of them to make a small quilt. I have started putting them into rows with some that have a different fabric background, alternating the two backgrounds.

I think I have one row together, since it's been awhile since I have pulled them out of their box. I hope to be getting to them soon, and I will take more pictures for my next showing of them.

Aside from sewing quilts, I am crocheting another blanket for my granddaughter, embroidering a sample, working on a small EPP project and painting rocks. What, you haven't heard of rock painting?

                               This is my gingham rock.

                       Mandalas and gingham

                        Autumn leaves

                                Cactus

                            Sunrise/sunset

And my sea urchin. I love painting and rocks give me a small canvas that can be completed in one sitting. It is daily gratification. I will talk to you soon.

Project Catch Up

So I have been busy with lots of different projects here. I want to share just a couple of them today.

This is the top left corner of my Dropcloth sampler. I am have such fun with this. It's like coloring with thread. It is a slow, peaceful hand project.

I cleaned and reorganized my sewing space recently and I found this fat eighth bundle that I have had for goodness knows how long. I won it when I lived in NC. The color pallet is not really my preference, but it is pretty. My middle daughter loves these deep colors so she will be the winner of a new quilt. There is a picture below of the top, but blogger re-ordered my photos and I can't seem to get it the way I'd like.

This is one of the July blocks for my Penny Sampler Pattern Club. We are now 7 months in and it is getting exciting to see things come together.

I took all my leftover yarn that is either pink or purple to start a blanket for Miss N. Her two favorite colors. This pattern is from Lucy at Attic 24. It is the cosy stripe blanket and it crochets up pretty quickly. I am one third of the way done here.

This is the clover block, the other July block for the Penny Sampler. July was a quick and easy month for this club. The other thing we did was to cut filler blocks, which are mostly 6.5 inch squares to be placed throughout the quilt.

Here, at last we come to the completed quilt top. I made strip sets and was able to get three blocks from each set. This is just a pretty lap size quilt. The borders are some Ombre Confetti Metallic I had on hand. I made the back on Friday, also from fabric on hand. This is a stash quilt for sure. I will pin baste and begin quilting this week.

The last project I have to share is my second Dear Dottie quilt. I have done all the other block combinations of lights and darks and colors. This is the last. The white borders and the colors. I have to make 53 of these blocks, and each one has 4 sections. I got all of them cut out and began assembly last week.

This is what I have so far. This quilt will not be as scrappy looking as the previous one I did. I wanted to do one with a controlled pallet ever since I made the first one. This project got lots of attention this past week, so now, it's going to take a back seat for a bit while I tend to some others.

Talk to you soon.

Dear Dottie, Round Two

Ever since I did my Dear Dottie quilt, I have wanted to make another one in a more restricted color pallet. This is my attempt at that.

The Dear Dottie quilt has these wonderful dots that you create in several configurations. Some are light background and more saturated color inside, some are the opposite of that, and all together, they make for a very striking look. This was a QAL done with Rachel at Stitched in Color awhile back.

This block is a color dot with a darker border. I have made all the blocks in this category, so check that off the list!

This is the "white" background/dark interior block. I am done with this set of blocks also. You should know that I started with the blocks I needed the fewest of. I need to keep myself motivated.

This is the block that is whit interior/dark background. I still have a bunch of these to make. And this is not even the one category I need the most of. Oh, my!

This is the dark dot/ light background color block. I made these first, and the fabrics I used for the background do not appear anywhere else in the quilt. I chose the same colors, but in a much lighter tone.

I plan to just keep plugging along on this quilt. I don't seem to have it in me to put the pedal to the metal on a project of any kind right now. I flit from one to another. I am okay with that.

Have a great day, and I will be back here soon.

Rain Rain Go Away

It has been raining here. All. Week. Long. We have apparently received another 1.5 inches overnight last night. Ark building may be the next task here if it doesn't stop soon. There is water in the basement that we can't even deal with until this stops. What a week.

 So, in no particular order, since Blogger just re-ordered my photos, I am working on this cute little stitchery from Liz at Cozy Blue. I usually just buy the PDF versions and trace them onto cloth myself. A Grammie's limited income you know.

 Made a couple of masks for some friends. I have been doing this a bit. Someone calls or texts and asks, and then I sew a few up. I just can't bring myself to crank them out. But I am doing my part.

 I made myself this one to try out this style. I put a layer of Pellon 809 init for body and a bit of extra filter protection. I have made a few of these. I have been splitting elastic since all I have is 3/4 inch wide elastic. So far it's working. I did make one with ties to try that technique out. I love having options.

 I started quilting the heart quilt this week. It's the kind of small quilt I can usually do quickly, but my engine seems to be stuck in low gear right now. Everything is in slow motion.

 I am working on some new pillow covers for my daughter. I made up these 4 Dear Dottie blocks for the first one. It will need a thin-ish border to be the right size. I plan to make 5 different covers using block techniques that I want to play with on a smaller than a quilt scale. This one is fun!

 I baked Challah bread yesterday from the Smitten Kitchen recipe. It made two loaves that grew so huge they grew together on the pan. The taste was great and I will definitely bake this again, but I will cut the recipe in half to make a single loaf next time. It was way too much bread for our household.

 Last weekend I baked a Country French Loaf from a King Arthur recipe. I baked it in my cast iron Dutch oven. A very good bread for toasting, sandwiches and garlic bread.

 I decided that since I have tons of earrings and I used to wear a different pair every day back in my working days, I would post and wear a different pair every day on my Instagram, until I get through them all. These were my earrings from my cancer days.

And there was one miracle morning where the sun shone so brightly for just a few moments before the clouds and the rain came back. It was awesome!
I hope you have a good weekend my friends. Stay safe.