Hoop It Up!

I love Bonnie Hunter. I so enjoy her blog Quiltville's Quips and Snips and the real and creative life she leads. It inspires me. She has been doing some hand quilting and showing it lately. Even though her business also involves a lot of long arm work, she still likes that cozy, slow stitch feeling too. It made me want to go back to my quilting roots.

Around 2010 I found the modern quilting movement on line. I learned how to machine quilt and I was hooked. It was so much faster, and the possibilities were endless. I pretty much gave up hand quilting. These days though, I find myself drawn back into the slower pace of hand work. I have been doing tons of embroidery and crochet. Now, I wanted to start hand quilting again. But not on a large quilt.

I am quilting along with Rachel at Stitched in Color on the Pas de Deux quilt this year. She showed a photo of some fabrics she had pulled for a project that included this Heather Ross print of the moths. I love that print and happened to have a little. I wanted to use it. So I chose several fabrics to go with it, wanting a spring colored vibe. I edited the colors and then pulled out my Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks, looking for ideas. I wanted that soft purple to be  focus of the piece, so I made 5 blocks identical. The other block I wanted to feature the supporting fabrics. But I didn't like this. Too much too much.

So I chose my favorite and settled on this. I added the green back in as a very narrow 1 inch border, and had just enough of the purple to make an outer border, which is wider at the top and bottom than the sides. I am very pleased with this.

Then pieced together a backing from some long held fabrics that weren't getting any use. I pulled out my old quilting hoop and hooped it up, after thread basting the layers. I had to kind of relearn that thread basting too. It's amazing what you forget.

And now, for however long it takes, I am going to hand quilt this piece. It is 24x27 inches, so not too big.

I am going to let it lead me, and show me how it wants to be quilted. I took the first few stitches yesterday, and let me tell you, my hand quilting needs work. But, the only way it gets better is to do it. Practice, practice, practice. So that's what I will be doing for awhile. And I couldn't be happier about it.

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.

Sign of the Times

Sign in, sign out. That's what made me think of the title for this post. And it's true. I do love to sew and as I am retired, I do sew every day. But now, it seems imperative to do so. It helps me focus on something besides the dreadful news that is everywhere. So here is some of what I have been sewing:

 A fun embroidery piece by Liz, of Cozy Blue. I love this so much I am doing another one called Mushroom Girl. I think this one is called Home Girl.

 This is the hanging diamonds block for my Penny Sampler Club quilt. Made with V and Co. ombre with the little white flowers on it. I can't remember the name right now.

 These are my pinwheel blocks for the Penny Sampler. They will go in the sashing strips that will be the same pale green as you see here.

 Here are my double diamonds for Penny Sampler. Not sure if I showed these before, but hey, no biggie.

 This is my first attempt at drafting a paper piecing pattern. I wanted a tea pot that looked more like a tea pot for my Penny Sampler. Not a bad first try. I am going to use it, even with it's imperfections.

 This is the bird block. I have decided not to embroider the feet on mine. But after seeing so many on Instagram I kind of want to make a quilt of them in different colors.

 These next three blocks are the beginning of something. I'm not sure what, but so far, I like them. I really need to use some of my Heather Ross pretties so this seemed the chance.

 Still crocheting too. This is my Dahlia blanket from the pattern by Attic 24. Love the happy colors in this blanket.

 I bought the umbrella fabric a couple of months ago, and the one with people with umbrellas. They are from the same line. All the rest came from my stash.

 It seemed like a good time to use them for something like this. The corners of the snowball blocks and the inner border are Ombre Confetti Metallic by V and Co.

close up

I finally finished piecing this small heart quilt, but don't seem to have a picture of it. I must remedy that.

And of course, Saturday was Pi day. So, I made chocolate cream pie. Recipe is on the King Arthur web site. I highly recommend it. Not too difficult either.

So that's what's going on here in my little world. Stay safe and healthy my friends. The world needs us quilters. Talk to you soon.

You Can Teach an Old Quilter New Tricks

So I quilted my 36 patch quilt this week. I was so happy to get it finished. It's been a long time since I finished a quilt for me. I used many of my all time favorite fabrics, and a few new favorites as well.

 You will see Lizzie House, Elizabeth Hartman, Laurie Wisbrun, Heather Ross and many more.

 Some of these fabrics are ten or more years old. Some were the final scraps, but some were larger yardage. It only takes 2 WOF  x 2 1/2 inch strips to make enough for the block.

 I used to have Dear Stella Confetti Dots in every color they made. Now they are all gone almost.

So I started quilting diagonal lines over each square. I love the way it looks, and as I know this quilt will get lots of use, this should be enough quilting to hold it together.

So now, about the new trick? It is in reference to the binding. I have been making quilts for 30 years. I learned pretty early on why double fold was better than single fold. I figured out my best way to get a mitered corner.

I learned to use my walking foot to attach the binding. The one thing I had trouble with was joining the two ends of the binding on the quilt. I couldn't wrap my head around it, so I just tucked one end inside the other and it left a small, but mostly unnoticeable gap. I did my quilts that way for years.

Then, I saw a tutorial by Amy Ellis showing how to join the two ends on the bias and make a smooth transition. You can't tell where the end is, as it just looks like all the other places you joined the binding strips. This is, for me a game changer. I have bound 3 quilts like this so far. Maybe it was seeing it done on a video. Whatever the reason, I now have a new trick in my repertoire.

I had planned to show a picture of the entire quilt, front and back at the end of the post, but I apparently cut off the bottom row of blocks. I am sorry and I will take a new picture and share it next time. Until then, Happy Quilting and enjoy your weekend.

My New 36 Patch

So, I believe I mentioned awhile back that I was going to make a new 36 patch quilt. I made one a number of years ago as a sew along with Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts. It has always been a big favorite of mine. I have long wanted to make another one. This time, I am using a bunch of my favorite fabrics by some of my most favorite designers. Here is my progress report:

 These are a couple of prints from Laurie Wisbrun. The way I assemble the block, some end up upside down, but no big deal to me.

      These are a couple of Lizzy House prints.

   These are some very sweet Heather Ross butterflies in two different color ways.

     These are two more Lizzy House prints.

 These are a couple of Sweetwater prints from my most favorite of all time Sunkissed. I know there isn't as much contrast in these two, but I love them all the same.

This is a Heather Ross print, paired with a Dear Stella Mini Confetti Dots. I used to have that dot fabric in almost every color way. I am sad it's gone.

 This is two Denyse Schmidt prints from Flea Market Fancy reprint. A bit hard on the eyes, but kinda cool.

 Two more prints from the Sweetwater Sunkissed line. I have a few more from this line to include.

 And two more prints from the Flea Market Fancy reprint. This is the last of the grey seeds that I have and I just had to include them here.

Here are two prints from Sandi Henderson. The green is from Meadowsweet collection and the red is called Henna Garden, a classic.

I am doing this quilt, not only because I love the first one, but to sort of immortalize all my favorite fabrics that I have either been hoarding or am almost out of by now. A nice way of keeping just a bit of each one.

If you want to do something like this, it only takes two 2 1/2 inch x WOF strips of two fabrics to make a block. You sew the two strips together with a 1/4 inch seam and press it. I like to press it open. Then, you cut these into 2 1/2 inch units and sew them together until you have the 36 patch block. You will have some extra pieces to use either on the back or in another project.

Once there are 36 of these blocks made, I will join them all together to make my quilt top. If you want more detailed instructions you can search Crazy Mom Quilts. I know her blog isn't active any longer, but all her tutorials are still up there.

Today I am hoping to finish the last side of the binding on my 100 blocks quilt so I can wash it and have it to show you, maybe tomorrow?
Have a lovely Friday.