Ten Years Quilting

 I some how re-found this blog and I am so glad I did.  I've been quilting ten years now and it's fun to see how I started.  If i can find this again, I'll add more to it.  Not for anyone to read about it, but mostly to record my progress.  In the meantime, here are some quilts from the last ten years. 

This was my lockdown project.  It was a quilt-a-long. This was all fabric I had on hand (except for the backing). Spring 2020

A baby quilt made for my boss.  The quilting on it is simply a masterpiece.  Spring 2016/2017

I started in 2015 and finally finished in 2020. A few dark years when i just stopped being creative. 

Annie's Choice Door Hanging

It's true. I have been quilting.  My work year got a bit involved, but I'm still doing a few projects.  This was meant to be up six weeks ago, I just never had the time to finish it.

The block is Annie's Choice from the Fat Quarter Shop's Wishes Quilt Along.

Five Things you should know about this door hanging:

1.  It's a scrappy project, meaning I used fabric from my stash. That is a very good thing.  My fabric stash is important. Each piece of fabric has been hand selected by me.  I love them all and don't use them lightly.  I really loved that blue patterned fabric. I've been waiting to use it for at least two years.
2. I used a pattern for the block.  But I mentioned that already.  Also, I finished. This is another good thing.
3. I did the Square in a square all. by. myself.  I looked up online how to measure for this finishing feature, and I'm rather proud of myself.
4. I quilted it myself.  Both in the ditch quilting as well as free motion.  I've never free motioned quilted before, for real.  Scary.  It isn't pretty. But you have to start somewhere, right?  And I finished it.  Bam. I should have used thread that is the same color of the fabric...but I didn't.
5. From the street, you can't see the hideousness that is my free motion quilting.  You just see a nice looking door hanging. 

Sewing with My Sistahs

I have three sewing machines.  An embarrassment of riches.  They aren't all the fancy schmancy sort, but they all can sew 1/4" seams.  In quilting, that's really what matters, right?

I have three sisters and a momma.  One sister lives far away, has fancy schmancy sewing machine and could teach sewing (Really. She has a home ec ed degree).  But the other two sisters live close by as does the momma.  So, in July, we all came together at my house.  I gave them access to (most of) my fabric stash.  And we cut. And cut. and cut lots of fabric.  We're making table runners.  Soon, it was time to go.

We made plans to come back in September and keep on sewing.  It was decided that we weren't in a hurry.  We valued the sisterhood as much as the crafting.

Sistah #1 came by one day and learned the various blocks (four blocks total: 6" block, a four square block, and two log cabin-ish blocks.  She made one of each with me and then went home and got to work.

Well, last Saturday, the sistahs and momma came and we actually sewed!!

Fixing a cutting mistake

trying out combinations

The sisterhood

who's happier the girl or the dog?

We're actually sewing!  

"that's right mom, good job!"

it's so satisfying when the back side lays properly!

more trying combinations...

putting the whole together

loving her color choices

Loving her color choices

It was such a fun day!

Adding Frames to BOM: an Update

I took my sewing machine to get serviced.  It's been a year since I bought it and it still makes me happy.  I know that Janome has a new version of the Horizon, but I like mine, thank you very much.

So, my machine is back.  And I started piecing the frame to the blocks for Amish with a Twist.  It's very exciting and I'm glad to know how to do frames.  I will try to do one frame a day for twelve days and get this thing put together.

I think this will be a gift, so you might not see it for a bit, but I enjoyed doing this particular pattern very much.  Practice, practice, practice is good for this girl; and I really like doing samplers.  I might make one for us, but I think in cream.


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Skittle Quilt and Green and Grey Pillow

Quilt fabric companies have a great marketing plan.  They have contests and have professional quilt bloggers make scrumptious quilts with pre-released fabric.  It gets a girl wanting more fabric.  Always wanting more fabric.  This scenario played out last fall when V & Co came out with the Simply Color line.  It's yummy isn't it? And speaks to my style completely.

So, I bought a fat quarter bundle and gave it to the hubba-hubba to wrap and give me for Christmas.  I didn't know what to do with it, but I knew I'd be inspired.

I was inspired by this Skittles Quilt and pinned it as soon as I read the blog post.  I ordered the fabric and let it sit on my TBQ pile until I had time to work on it.

In the meantime, I needed to learn how to applique.  Circles.  I recommend not learning how to applique with circles.  Not fun.  I took an Anything Goes class at our local quilt shop and the lovely Barb R departed her skills. And slowly I made circles using the Perfect Circles method. (Mine were less-than-perfect.)

In May, I had a week where I was allergic to the outside.  I took the opportunity to applique these circles on the grey panel.  It was scarier than it sounds. First, I had to take the ombre fabric and find the perfect spot and r-r-r-rip the fabric.  It's a scary process...and if it doesn't make any sense...read the instructions.  I will say the color match where I had to rip was pretty spot-on.  Whew!

After I finished ... and it took all week, I contacted the lovely Elvira and arranged for her to quilt it.  She did a great job.

While I was waiting for the quilt to come back, I continued to work on the bom Amish with a Twist.  After lesson 12, they had a beautiful pillow project and thought it would be a great accompaniment.  I quilted that myself and I think it looks spectacular.  The grey really makes the green fabric go POP!

I finished it in time for our trip to coastal California to give to my husband's brother and family.  Happily, they love it.  It looks great, doesn't it?

 My take away? Appliqueing isn't for me.

Stars with Stripes For Me.

I bought some fabulous navy blue fabric with white stars.  I I've been wanting to make a door hanging and thought these stars would make for something fun for Flag day and the Fourth of July.

I cut out 3.5 inch stripes from the navy fabric.  Then I made a nine patch block from two different kinds of red material.  I sewed the elements together and was quite pleased with the look.

To quilt this door hanging, I decided I would try my hand at free-motion quilting.  I've done it in a class, I've tried it on my new machine, but had never really done it before.  How can a girl learn to do something, if she doesn't try?  (You don't have to answer it, it was sort of rhetorical...)

This was my attempt. This looks pretty good.  Then I got a little cocky and kept at it.  There was no place to put the needle and I panicked.  You can't see that here...if you look at other pictures, you'll see what I mean.

I decided to sew in the ditch for the starry stripes.  I added a red border and machine stitched the binding.  What?  Yes, I did.  I consider this a learning experience...and I wanted to learn what a machine binding was like... It's just as bad as everyone says it is.  But all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I learned how to add tabs on the back for hanging.  So, the thing I learned with that exercise is the tab should go on before the binding.  That's okay, this is a learning experience.

I could count the number of things that are wrong with this finished project.  Instead I'm going to count the things I did right.  I love it.  I think it's a fun design...it's my design.  If I were to show you the back, you'd be horrified.  But that's a lesson for another project.  Enjoy.  I am.

Amish with a Twist: Sawtooth Star

I guess I thought I was showing each block as I did them... turns out i haven't been. I'll work on it.  Today we worked on half-square triangle.  I think one can never practice half=square triangles enough.  This block is a four-patch constuction with two half square triangles.  Do you see it?

My First Color Wheel

I took a class at Acorn Quilts in Rockford.  Have you ever been there?  It is a beautiful store.  The class room is a little small, but this was mostly lecture so it was fine for the eight of us who took the Color Theory class.  We learned how to read the wheel, the subtle differences in the tertiary colors (red-orange vs. yellow orange). Then we looked at paint chips and made mini wheels.  Paint chips are hard.  The color variants are so slight, it takes a good eye.

The instructor talked to us about reading our stash of fabrics and building up in the areas we are lacking.  The most fun was letting us go out into the store and grab bolts of fabric and making our ideal color wheel.  We had homework: to find the colors in our stash and make a wheel.  I'm proud to say I had at least one of every color but yellow.  No true yellow.  Entirely too much pink and blue and brown.  But, can you have too much blue fabric?  Hmmm... let me think about that.

There's more to do for homework... I'll share that later.    But... here it is, my first color wheel.  I enjoyed the process very much and will be pursuing other color wheels in my future.

Also, I can't really sew in a circle.
I'll need to work on that...

Status Report

I'm a sewing machine... wait. That doesn't sound right. I'm a sewing maniac. Yes, much more accurate. As time allows, Sharon tries to quilt, quilt, quilt. Well, piece really.

In February I went a little fabric shopping crazy. Kah-ray-zee. On my blog feed I've been seeing future projects and wanted to get the fabric before it sold out. So I bought fabric.

I've also been working on my BOM project. I'm a little behind: the project gives me three blocks to complete a month. I did January in time, but I've only done one block for February. It was practicing half square triangles. You remember half-square triangles from my Basics class, right?  When you put four half square triangles together you get a windmill.  Well, my BOM for February is focusing on half-square triangles.  I was going to finish my February projects this weekend.

Then it snowed.  It snowed nine inches and I was home and needed something to do.  So I started one of those rainy day projects.  This project was one of the first projects I wanted to complete when I decided that quilting was for me.  So I got the fabric that I purchased in my February Fabric Frenzie, and started.

Did you guess? Yes!  It involves, almost exclusively, half-square triangles.  100 of them so far.

there are 19 windmills

There are 24 large half square triangles

there are 100 half square triangle in all.  I love the color combinations.

Now what?  Well, I need a place to put everything together.  Placing my squares in the order i want them on the ground isn't conducive to my sad knees.  I need a large table top.  Also, the fabric isn't ready for purchase.  I've learned that pre-cuts are sold before the yardage (marketing geniuses at work).  

Also, I won a blog challenge:

... hey that's me!

.... and I want to buy the border, binding, and backing for this quilt with this gift!

It's so exciting, isn't it?

Triple Dip with a Extra Bit... Runner for the TV table

In the summer of 2011, when I was first discovering what it meant to quilt, I went on a summer-long shop hop.  During the shop hop I found oodles of fat quarters from the French Laundry line.  I bought them, thinking I would do something with it for our family room. 

Before I took my Basics Class, I attempted to make a quilt using these fat quarters.  It was disastrous.  No, it was.  I threw the thing away and signed up for the class.  Since then, the smaller stash of fq's sat there taunting me.  Then I bought this itty bitty pattern called Triple Dip.

The Tv table before the runner... and minus all that dust.
On screen: Wuthering Heights with Laurence Olivier

But it was too itty bitty.  39" in length is fine, but 13" width was too skinny.  So add two rows.  Easy? Not easy. Mental math was never my strong suit.  It really isn't.  But, I remember 5th grade math. If you can't figure it out in your brain, draw a picture.  This is the sketch I created on my iPad.  It helped me understand how many squares I'd need.  

My sketch

And the runner!  I like how it turned out...

Oh lordy, quarter square triangles!  You can see from this bird's eye view, that qst's aren't my best block... 

I love the back.  And look, fairly straight lines.  

So... I should tell you the thread story.  My hubba-hubba (my online name for my spousal unit) was out doing errands one cold February Sunday.  He took my car.  I wanted to work on projects and didn't want to schlep out and go back to where the hubba-hubba had just been. So I asked him for a favor.  Would he go to the quilt store and pick up some thread for me so I could quilt this runner?  (He was a block away.) He would, but I needed to call the quilt store and get the product.  I called them: I was looking for Aurafil in brick red. I explained I was working with a French Laundry red fabric.  They were familiar with it but wanted a picture.   I promised to send a picture to the hubba-hubba's phone.  When he came home, it was perfect. He said that five people were anxiously awaiting the picture and all conquered with the choice.  It was a perfect match... so much that I had a devil of a time with finding the thread as I was sewing the binding.

and my made-by tag. 

and the finished look:

On screen: The Lavender Hill Mob with Alec Guinness

Amish With a Twist: Rail Fence

I finished  my first block for my block of the month project.  The colors are bright and cheery.  Looking forward to this coming together.  Compare it to my first rail fence...  Reading that entry I see that the sewing was left difficult this time around.  My 1/4 inch seam has improved greatly.

Amish with a Twist: Block of the Month Project

The first time I saw the quilt pattern Amish with a Twist. I wanted to make it. I love the big, bold graphic colors.  The quilt top was just hanging in a store.  I didn't know anything about it, I just knew I needed it.

I went back to that quilt shop and it was gone.  I had a little panic, but found it as a  kit.  I was still taking my basics class and knew I wasn't ready for it.  Not then anyway.

While I was looking for a new project to start, I searched Block of the Month projects. I wanted to start a block of the month project to get in the groove of having projects in various stages of completion.  We'll see if I can stay organized ...

In my search, Amish with a Twist came popping up.  It was fresh and new about two years ago, but there are still several online shops that still offer it.  I elected to do the original black pattern, though there were other options (I really like the grey one...).

There are twelve blocks plus sashing and a lesson in applique separated in five parts.

Amish with a Twist

My first month's packet came last weekend. In the packet were the first three blocks and the fabric.  I started my first project: rail fence.

Here are the little strips all lined up and ready to sew...

I'll post a picture of the completed square.

The Math Confounds Me

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Update on Urban Cabin

My mom loved the quilt.  "Now I have to redecorate my whole house [condo]."

Here it is in real life.

now... Now we just need to paint those walls and get something on the windows so it stops looking like a convent.

Urban Cabin

 This is it! My first quilt!  In September I took a class at Prairie Shop Quilts taught by the talented Barb R.  The pattern Urban Cabin is by Atkinson Design.  I saw an example  at the shop and loved the look.  My mom wanted a new quilt for her guest bed.  Why not?  The class was in September and my mom and I went to five shops one day this summer looking for  fabric.  It became overwhelming for her.  So, I asked her: would you like bright or would you like pastel?  Bright.  What color do you want?  Not blue. Shortly after that, I went to the Quilt Merchant and found this wonderful line of fabrics from Amy Butler.  I supplemented the colors with some Kaffe fabrics and other scraps I had at home.

The blocks are large and I found my groove.  Do you finish a block and then go to the next?  Or do you focus on one step at a time?  In the end, that turned out to be what I did. 1-1/2 " strips, 2-1/2" strips, 3-1/2" strips?  It got to be confusing for me.  So, one step at a time.  It was good because I could chain stitch things together and go go go.

I've self-diagnosed myself as having ADhD.  I get very distracted when I sew. And when I'm distracted I make mistakes.  I found an answer -- audiobooks.  When I'm listening to a very good story, I sit and listen and sew.  and I want to get back to the story...so I keep sewing.   It's worked so far.

After a really hectic Autumn at work, I abandoned housework on the weekends and finished!  I took to Elvira the Long Arm Quilter and hoped it would be back in time for binding.

In early November I had my gallbladder out.  It was unplanned. And so was the week off I was suddenly given.  I had time to sew.  So I did.  I made pillows.  I started sewing scraps together and made a 20" pillow.  Then, I quilted it.  No, really I did.  I quilted straight lines.  I'm not sure it's the best straight line quilting in the world, but I'm rather happy with it.  I used Kaffe Spray Brown as the back.  It was one of my favorites and wanted to use more of it.

The next fabric I found was a gorgeous piece of wool herringbone.  I made a ruffle of the backing fabric (a struggle in sewing, but I did it).  I'm quite pleased with how that looks.

My first attempt at a wool pillow was really unsuccessful, but I rallied and added buttons.  It's not the best pillow but I think it will add something.

I love the border fabric.  I love that flax color with the acid green.  I was lucky enough to find a very tactile silk fabric the exact color. I attempted to make a pillow but my mitred corners need work and I cut wrong.  What to do? That was pricey fabric.  I reworked some things and created a flange on the pillow.  It's fluffy and a good attempt.  Again, I think it adds to the whole look.

By then, Elvira had finished my quilt.  It's gorgeous. Even without the binding.  Prairie Shop Quilts hosts a Sew Anything class (called Anything Goes)...featuring the estimable Barb R.  She suggested I bring my binding and she'd show me what to do. I did this and discovered that binding is an important but miserable step in the process.  What a drag.  I didn't get nearly enough done those three hours when Barb told me I had to finish the binding by hand.

A lot of whining took place. I whined at the store.  I whined at home. I whined on Facebook and I whined at work.  Those who know, told me to just do it.  That I'd be infinitely more happy with hand binding.

Another friend, someone I've know since high school, offered to coach me on binding.  Caroljoy teaches quilting and is a very patient teacher.  It was nice to see her and she reiterated that I needed to finish it by hand.

Did I mention the size of my twin quilt?  It's 75x102.  That's 354 inches of binding.  It's a big quilt!

So, one week before Christmas I took the day off and finished the binding by hand.  It took me 9 hours and 50 minutes.  My fingers ached and I understood the phrase "carpal tunnel pain."  But I'm done. And I think it looks great.  I'll post my mother's response!

Here it is.  As I said before, this is a twin size quilt.  I staged it on a queen bed. It's very big, isn't it?    You can see the pillows as well.  Enjoy!