TA DA!! Perfect Pineapple Quilt Is Done!

 This quilt has been a year in the making. Amber, at Gigi's Thimble ran this as a quilt along. There were 36 blocks, one per week. The blocks are all machine paper pieced. Papers are available at Gigi's Thimble. The blocks finish at about 12 inches. My finished quilt is about 76 inches square.

Here it is on my bed, fresh from the wash. What made me want to do this quilt along was two things. The paper piecing, which I used to hate, makes such crisp blocks. Also, Amber showed a picture of one she'd done in pink and green like this and it really spoke to me. Most of this quilt top is made from my scrap bins and stash. I did have to buy some neutrals. I never seem to have much in the way of neutrals.

These are some images of the quilting, before I washed the quilt. I cut a 12 inch half circle out of cardboard (thank you Amazon) and marked each square's design on the front of the quilt before I quilted it with my walking foot. There is one block you can see here below, that is not scrappy. That was a deliberate choice.

The straight lines through the center of the leaves run on the diagonal, from edge to edge. It seemed to need the extra anchor of this long stitching from edge to edge. And it worked well within the design.

I used a Hera marker for a lot of the inner blocks, but after awhile, I found it harder to see my lines. So I tried chalk, a marking pencil, and finally, a graphite marking tool I bought at my LQS probably 15 years ago. That was the tool that helped me bring this over the finish line. There were several times when I thought I must be crazy for quilting this on my Bernina 440. It has such a small throat space. But, I was patient, or tried to be, and got through it all. It took me 7 days to get it quilted and bound.

And of course, today I had another small issue when I was attaching the binding. Oh, my goodness, I was never so happy for a finish.

For the back, I bought 2 1/2 yards of Bungalow in green and 2 1/2 yards in pink, by Amy Gibson for Windham Fabrics. I found it on sale somewhere, and the two colors were perfect for the backing, being green and pink.

And, as a bonus, I only had to seam it once! Hurray! I trimmed off all the extra and saved it to use for the binding. I ended up only using the pink, as I thought that would look best.

         This is another picture with pins in it as I am still quilting it at this stage.

                         I used another one of my new labels on this quilt.

And, you can see how nice the binding looks on the quilt. The four corner blocks have these little stamens, or antennae on them. I had thought to put them on every block, but when I saw them on one, I changed my mind. And, rather than rip them out, I put them in each of the other three corners for balance.

It washed and dried up so nicely. It is so soft. And that's what I wanted, a soft drapey kind of quilt. There are lots of seam lines in this quilt, so a little less quilting made that happen. Thanks to Amber for a wonderful QAL. I had two quilts on my bed, but I added this one too, because after all, it's still winter.

Odds and Ends

 I have been pretty busy with all my projects this summer. Here is a round up of some things that have been going on that I may not have mentioned, or maybe I did. :) So, in no particular order...

We go to the local farmer's market on most Saturdays. I have taken to getting a bouquet of flowers and they have been amazing this summer.

This bouquet came from the grocery store, as we didn't make it to market that week. I chose one with a fall theme.

This is my initial fabric pull for a temperature quilt I am thinking about starting in 2023. I have long wanted to make one. We'll see if this pans out. Anyone else want to make one?

This is 30 of my 36 blocks for the perfect pineapple QAL with Gigi's Thimble. Almost done. Since this picture two more have been done. Only 4 more to go.

Sunday I decided to use my home grown chives to make cheddar chive biscuits. They were amazing with fresh tomatoes on top of them.

I used some leftover fabric from my daughter's Sandhill sling to make her a thread catcher for Halloween.

I am slowly, slowly stitching this pretty piece. There is a photo below of the whole thing from the website.

Some lovely gifts I selected with my birthday gift certificate from my daughter. She got me a gift certificate to Snuggly Monkey who has the best stitching supplies ever. You can finder her on line, although she does do curbside pick up for locals.

Two more thread catchers for my daughter. Can't have enough of these and I have to use some of this fabric up you know.

This is the picture from the Lolli and Grace web site for the stitchery above that I am working on. You have a choice of words for this piece. Mine will say Home Sweet Home when it's done.

And, finally, I had to purchase more batting. It's quite the investment, but so worth it in the end to have what you need on hand. This will last me several years, and I take all the scraps and sew them together for smaller quilts, so nothing goes to waste either.

Well that's all for now. Happy fall y'all.

Feeling Better

So, now that I am feeling better, my knee is still recovering though, I can sit at my machine and sew a little. So this is what got sewn this week.

I was able to sew up the blocks for April's installation of the Pas de Deux quilt that I am making along with Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color. I had cut all the pieces out last week before I hurt my knee, so, the sewing went pretty quickly.

 And I was able to sew up last week's and this week's blocks for the Perfect Pineapple QAL that I am doing with Amber from Gigi's Thimble. This one is a block a week for 36 weeks and now we are half way there.

Last weekend I made carrot cupcakes for Easter with the grandchildren. This is a recipe from King Arthur Flour and the stuff on top is candied walnuts which turned out great. The recipe is their Spicy Carrot Snacking cake, which also has directions for the cupcakes. So good!

Then, just because I felt like it, and also because there was a need, I made some thread catchers. This is a tiny one to actually hold chalk for a chalkbord. Thimble is there for scale.

This is a pattern I bought years ago from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. I have mad a bunch over ther years for lots of folks. My oldest daughter has taken up stitchery and needed one to crry around with her as she stitches all over the house. I had given her one of mine, but the time has come to make her one.

This one with the Rapunzel fabric is for my granddaughter. She needs one because she will take her mom's if she doesn't have one of her own. And I have never been able to figure out what to do with this cute fabric.

This one is for my daughter. I thought she would like the mustard yellow and the bright pop of pink.

This one is for me. I haven't had a new one in years, and I do love this fabric. Besides, I'm not taking the one of mine that I gave her back, so this counts as a replacement. I love these little thread catchers. I have become so used to them being wherever I need them. Have a great weekend everyone.

The Week That Got Away

So, as you know, I have been trying to catch up on so many projects since our move. Last week, I was making good progress on the Scrap Stash Plus quilt by Quilty Love. I got really revved up on Tuesday, and decided to put everything else aside and get that top together.

And so I did. But...you knew this was coming? Right? When I went to put it up on the wall to take a few pictures, first of all, my design wall is too small. So I thought I'd use washi tape. I had a jar of the stuff, hardly used. You know what? Washi tape goes bad! I couldn't peel a strip off of any of the rolls to save myself. I was really mad at myself for letting it sit like that and then I had to throw it all away. So next I got out my painter's tape. And my step stool. That's where things went awry.

I misstepped while climbing up and down to put the tape up and while I was startled by that, I didn't fall. So I was fine. Or was I? That evening, my left knee was a little sore and stiff, so I took a couple of ibuprofen and went to be. The next morning, I could hardly walk. Then I noticed my knee was swollen. 

Well, there went my week of progress right out the window. I was relegated to a char or the couch, knee elevated with ice applied in 20 minute increments. For three days. The up side is that I did have hand projects to work on as well.

I finished this embroidery from Liz at Cozy Blue. I bought it awhile back, but it had to stand in line in the embroidery queue. I love her simple designs. I have six of them already hanging up in the sewing room. This makes seven.

I am also finally, finally finished with the squares for my Flora Granny Square blanket. 100 squares, done. Now I have begun the process of joining them all together. I began that, but then I noticed that from some unknown reason, I never wove in the ends when I finished the squares. Y'all, I never do that Lucy @attic24 taught me to always weave in my ends promptly. I have no excuses for this misstep in the process. So I am weaving in. I am about half done. Pictures soon.

The knee is better enough that I can sit at the machine and sew again, so I am going to try and at least catch up my #perfectpineapplequilt and finish my April Pas de Deux blocks this week. Wish me luck! And no more step stools for awhile.

Never a Dull Moment

 Never a dull moment around here. I thought that as soon as we got moved in and settled, I would have lots of time to sew and catch up on sew alongs etc. Not happening. So much to do.

Since I have gotten back into embroidery, I decided to rearrange my floss into color families. In an effort to be able to still find them by number, should I need to, each color family is in numerical order as well.

I was finally able to finish the blocks for January for the Pas de deux quilt along with Rachel at Stitch in Color.

Tried a new recipe from the New York Times. Chicken pot pie with cornmeal biscuits on top. I can highly recommend it. Mad a half size and it was perfect for two.

Bought myself some tulips. I needed the spring happy colors in my apartment. These filled the bill.

I bought all four different kinds of cinnamon from Penzeys. I am teaching one of my grandsons to cook and bake and we are going to have a lesson on cinnamon. It should have some delicious results.

Still working on the perfect pineapple QAL with Gigi's Thimble. I actually have 4 blocks done, but I am going to be 3 weeks behind as of tomorrow. These take me almost 2 hours to finish one. I plan to keep chugging along though.

I am working on a new wedding quilt for a recently married couple. All batiks, which I almost never do. I think this will be stunning when I get done. Mor pictures to come.

My two oldest daughters have discovered the joy of antiquing. They bought me this early mother's day gift to help to display some of my many quilts.

I did finally get February's blocks done for the Pas de deux. I am waiting for some fabric for March's blocks. In spite of all the fabric I seem to have, a couple of colorways are lacking.

I put my crocheted blankets in the bottom of this cabinet that I used to use for linens. This apartment has linen closets in each bathroom, so yay! Blanket storage it is.

Still chugging along on my Schoolhouse Sampler. I haven't done much in the last week. I had a cold; the first time I have been sick in over 2 years and I just had no desire or energy to sew anything. I did take a Covid test just to be sure. My husband had the cold the week before me, so I know where it came from.

I started this little project about 6-7 years ago when I first learned to make colonial knots instead of French knots. I didn't think I would ever finish it, but something sparked me and I worked diligently on it to finish it. I must say that it did not end up as I first pictured it, but I am very happy with it. A good long rest in time out was what it needed.

And finally, it seems we have a rooster living near our apartment complex. I don't know where he comes from, but some mornings he is just there and the other day I got to hear him too. Don't forget tomorrrow is Pi Day. I am off to make my pie dough now! See you soon.

An Interesting Thing

 So, we have been in our place for almost 3 weeks now. We are happy with our choice of this place to live and are settling in. For much of January I was chomping at the bit to sew on my machine. I could not wait to get set up somewhere. I now have the almost perfect set up. (almost because nothing is ever perfect) But...I am having trouble finding my groove. I feel so much more drawn to the hand works I have been doing these last couple of months.

Mostly I am stitching on this Dropcloth Sampler. I have really been enjoying learning, or in some cases relearning these stitches.

This is the Schoolhouse Sampler from Dropcloth Samplers. It's getting close to finished now and I do have another one already to go when I finish this.

I also signed up for Rachel Hauser's Pas de Deux block of the month for 2022. I knew I would be starting it late, but I am almost done with January and I am hoping to get February done this week. Just in time for March's release. Lol

I taught my 14 year old grandson how to bake muffins last week. He did a great job! They were very tasty.

And of course I promised the littles some pink marshmallows for Valentine's day. Heart shaped of course.

I also signed up for Gigi's Thimble Perfect Pineapple block. We are supposed to be making a block a week for 36 weeks. I need to get two more done to be caught up on this one. Here's hoping.

And of course this crocheted blanket is still going on. I only need 17 more blocks to have enough to put it all together. So very close. 

So the plan is, to start sewing today and see how much I can get done. I am hoping that if I plan this as a sewing only day, I will get in gear and maybe start to get back in the groove. I also am hoping that I can get back to blogging, especially since there are so many projects to talk about.

See you soon.