Progress Report

 The days fly by and yet a few things get done or at least there is progress. Here is the landscape started this week. I just love it when the fabric creates a design before any applique or thread play or quilting. This background mountain looks like a distant mountain. Thankful!

Also happy to have a warm home. It is -40 or so with a windchill closer to -50. This is Celsius, but when the numbers are that low, it is about the same as Fahrenheit. COLD! Hubby went out this morning to indoor golf. Lots of cancellations. He usually stays out for lunch, but not this time. He said the streets are icy and brutal.

Time to make supper but nice to be warm and glad I'm not needing to go anywhere...😰 Stay warm -- wrapped up in a quilt!

Blue being bound, Red getting quilted...

The blue quilt from my last post is in a pile on our living room coffee table. I'm doing the binding by hand on the back, during hockey games and watching mystery shows. It is fast, again using Glide, the most wonderful thread for this task. It does not twist, break, or annoy in any way!

The red queen-size is on my machine and I'm using a very simple panto called Ebb and Flow. It looks like ocean waves but I'm doing it vertically, so on this quilt, it goes with the brilliant tree panel in the center. She wanted red and a nature theme. I had a few red slab blocks so incorporated them. Many of the fabrics have floral designs or leaves or trees. It was fun to make. Since red is notorious for running, the whole quilt is mostly red with a red backing. Hopefully more pictures soon.

I have one more to make for this family of four. She asked for black, also a nature theme. I have a perfect panel and will put black (but not a solid) around it. So far, it is still in my head, but must come out soon! Making quilts with just a bit of 'guidelines' is fun for me.

Still at it...

 I'm still not finished the yellow improv scrap quilt . . . but getting there. 

Just have a new pic of those wonderful orchids that our son gave me. Now there are 18 blooms on it and all are perfect. Such a delight to watch them come out! 

We are getting warmer weather, much welcome after a week or so of -40 with wind. The melting makes walking from our door out of the complex quite dangerous though. I'd like to go but need cleats!

Three left...

Three leaves left, that is, on the king-size. It seems like a couple hours or less but I'm so tired these days and have other things on the go. 

Wanting a change of pace that is simple, I'm making "Pathfinder" - a pattern by Sarah Ruiz only in blue floral prints, lights and darks. It is turning out nicely. More pictures next time. I need a nap. 😊

Also am putting 'everything' not sold or given away on a gallery page. Link is on the right. It will take awhile - 22 so far but I've made more than 200.

Palm trees on the island

While pondering the next steps on Scott's king-size Hawaiian quilt, I decided the nearest island needed some trees at the base of it. I found some fabric in my stash and used the back for the farthest row and the front for the nearest. They look like the trees on some of the actual islands (better than this photo), but most of them have at least a few palm trees. I do not have an embroidery machine, however my Bernina 1630 has a few simple motifs and it suddenly came to mind that one of them is a palm tree! 

I did a practice run, finally remembering to put on the correct foot (#40). Otherwise the tree was lop-sided. This sample is a close close-up as the tree is less than 2" high. I'm using Invisafil so the stitches almost disappear rather than showing up as they do in this picture. I also fiddled around until finding a nice zig-zag that looks better than this photo.

Then I used a permanent marker to fill in the leaves. I'm not sure about thread painting or more painting, but right now, it looks just fine from a few feet back. Here's hoping I don't fall off this learning curve (or ruin the quilt)!

Progress Report

A few more blocks are done for "Cobblestone Lane" and I'm having fun. Here are the blocks and the next picture is my work table. Foundation paper-piecing is a favorite construction method, probably because I'm anal about accurate piecing. 

These blocks resist taking a photo. The backing on the design wall is doing the same. It looks bluish on one side and the right color on the other. The blocks don't even look the same size, but they are. I've five more to make, two of which are applique.

I work in strips most of the time rather than cutting pieces for each space in the pattern. However, sometimes a spot just calls for a fussy cut.

On a personal note, I have A-fib, which has been fine more than four years, but this month it decided to act up. My heart rate fluctuates all over the place, but I feel okay, just slow and sleepy. I didn't get into the ER soon enough for a quick fix, so am on a blood thinner to ensure no clots. That takes a month, so my 'fix' will be June 9. :-( 

 

Cobblestone Lane, sales, and wildfire

Response to my nativity pattern has been a nice surprise. Sales are brisk. I'm hoping that everyone who bought the pattern is busily making the quilt! It looks difficult, but is more time-consuming than hard to make.

I'm working on a pattern purchased who knows when. It is one of those "I'd like to make this" projects that I'd collected all needed fabric but stuck in a box and forgot about. At the beginning of the year, I picked twelve such projects, numbered them, and asked my hubby to pick a number each month. The funniest thing happened with this one. I had the main instructions for the sashing, etc. but thought I'd lost the block patterns. So I drew them using EQ7 as foundation paper-pieced blocks... then I found the patterns. Actually, that was a good thing. I love FPP and they are going together easily that way rather than cutting all those squares and triangles.

Here are three of the blocks so far. The reds are too dark in the photo. They will finish at 12" and the sashing is 9-patches with strips in the same colors. It looks a bit like an Irish Chain.

We are downwind of the wildfire in Fort McMurray so have some smoke in the air now and then. This has been a horrible event in our province, as you've seen on the news. People are making quilts, yet the greater need has been basics like toothbrushes and underwear for the 80,000 people who had to leave that city. Some homes have burned and this week, several simply exploded, even though the fire has moved away. It is still not a safe place for those waiting to go home, even to find out if they have a home to go to.The fire is immense and still out of control.

Frustration Friday

Yesterday I had time to do the quilting on my sampler for Cascading Blossoms. It started out okay, but after awhile, the stitching became unpredictable. I switched to a different machine and had similar problems. Was it the new brand of fusible that I used? The needle wasn't sticky, but I changed it, even tried a couple other types of needles.

So I'm not happy with the stitches, but from 2-3 feet, most people wouldn't even see them. The main use for this little one is to put with the pattern. It is written, needs another quilter to check it for dumbness, and then I can put it up for sale. 

With my hubby being so sick since the first part of January, I think I've forgotten everything I ever knew about quilting. This is why the picture is NOT cascading but lying on its side... Sigh!

Progress on One Block Wonder

This mass of triangles is finally sewn together. It needs a final press before I load it on the Avante and stitch in many ditches to stabilize it. Every seam is on the bias!

I've no idea what to do after that, so if anyone has suggestions??? One of my friends won a ribbon at our last guild show, but I don't remember how she quilted it. Guess I need to give her a call. 

By the way, this is two colorways of the same print. I'm left with enough to put a few bits in the backing and it will be all used up.

Three more blocks

Here are the most recent finished blocks for the Lord of the Rings quilt. Again, they will finish at 7" and are foundation paper-pieced. I do love the technique so am having fun. My plan is to quilt-as-you-go if the arrangement will allow it.

Lighthouse Progress

The lighthouse is progressing. I put the details on the very top, but need to add some windows. The quilting will add more detail. Each day, the bottom part gets another layer of rocks, grass, etc. Again, the quilting will add more definition. This one is great fun. It is 48" wide and about 72" high. (Just noticed the puckering in the sky... about a five-minute fix, sigh.)

Also, I've got 11-12 patterns now for a "Hobbit" quilt. It is foundation paper-pieced in 7" squares, but I've decided to do those with tiny pieces in 11" blocks. That size will work with the smaller ones if I use 1" sashing. This will be fun and I've a boy in the family that says he will "sleep under it for the rest of his life." The patterns are available through Regina Grewe.
 

Progress on Kali's quilt...

The top is pieced so I'm working on the Japanese crests. There will be seven of them, one red on black and the rest are black on red. I'm using Steam a Seam II to lay down the pieces, then going around them with a tiny blacked stitch. This isn't as 'soft' as hand applique, but it will be much sturdier for this bed quilt.

The top one is finished and ready to sew on the background. The bottom one has more leaves and some cherries to stick down. Then I'll do the blanket stitch, then put a freezer paper circle on the back, trim and turn under the edges.
 
I still don't have a name for this quilt. One suggestion was nice, but since the cherry tree on the right side of this page is also for this dear GD, cannot call it that. Maybe the GD will have an idea.
 

Merry Christmas

The quilting is nearly finished on Mariner's Sunset. I'm about 1/3 finished stitching another Celtic Table Runner for my daughter (she specifically requested it). So no new pictures. 

This is the Christmas quilt finished last year and now hanging in the foyer of the church I attend. I received copyright permission to sell the pattern for this one, so am refining that. If you are interested, let me know. I can offer only a few copies.

(ALL PATTERNS ARE SOLD. Sorry to those who wanted one. Email me if you want to be notified when I have other patterns available and include your contact information. This pattern will not be repeated.)
Jan 1, 2016 UPDATE. This quilt was based on a painting that was used for a Christmas card. The copyright holder gave me permission to use the design in a quilt and sell a few patterns. I complied (this is a legal requirement). With so much interest, I tried to get added permission so I could sell more patterns. However, the original copyright holder no longer owns it and could not tell me who does. I tried to find out, but was not able. This means I cannot sell any more patterns for this quilt. So sorry, but I value the right of the owner of the original art to restrict its use. Hope that explains why there are no more patterns!

THE BEST NEWS! As of April 8, 2016. I've managed to secure worldwide, exclusive copyright to use this design in a quilt pattern... so this pattern is for sale again. Please check my Etsy Page for details! 

To all who read this blog, I wish you a Christmas filled with joy, knowing that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son...!

Progress report

These are five blocks for a quilt group - we are each to make floral strip sets in "quilt as you go" fashion. One of the leaders will use narrow sashing strips to join them. I made nine, four in medium tones, five in darker fabrics. She will arrange them by graduation of tones. This will be a charity quilt. 

The other picture is a close-up of some of the quilting on Mariner's Sunset. This shows about 10" in the middle of the compass where the "sun" meets the water. The water has not been quilted but will have horizontal lines of reflection, etc. Now that this is on the machine and square, and controllable, it is more of a "tamed monster" instead of being so intimidation. It's a pleasure to work on, a bit each day, in my style of free motion doodling.

Mariner's Sunset Progress

Last Monday I put this monster on a table (where it hung over all edges) and then on my living room floor to get it squared up so the horizon was level, and to trim the edges, and get the foreground rocks in the right places. Did lots of pinning and basting also. Two-three hours later and I took these pictures. I'm too old to crawl around on the floor so needed a massage on Wednesday! My thighs are still a bit sore but I'm accepting that 'no pain - no gain' bit of wisdom.

That is because this is starting to look the way I hoped. Lots to do yet though... the tulle over the "sun" reflection in the water is cut too large, so you can see a gray circle that will not be there when it is done. Also, there is a patch in the sky that needs some lighter tulle. The leaves that frame the sides and top (scroll to sketch in earlier post) will go on later, after I get some quilting done to hold all this together. It is already pinned to the back leader for my HQ 16, but I might baste it instead. 

This one is physically hard work! It is now 101" wide x 75" tall, and I do have a place to hang it, but if anyone knows of a hotel or such that has a nice big blank wall, do let me know! My aches are telling me that I would be glad to sell it to anyone who is interested.
 

Friday must have been a good day!

Friday must be a "quilting day" because many of the blogs that I follow (out of the thousands posted by quilters) are featuring progress or completed work.

Wendy says she hasn't been working on quilts, but her post says she has. Nice pictures of an "older" quilt too.

Margo, with grandsons, made some delightful rooster pin cushions.

Joyce has pieced some imaginative wall hangings and is making wild and crazy colored bags.

Jeanne posts progress in wall hangings, an arm chair caddy, and putting the border on a complex red and green quilt that is now off to a longarm quilter. Wow, she did a lot of work this week.

SewKalico's post says "None of my own work" but she did work on someone's UFO and when a friend wanted fish fabric, she painted the most marvelous fish for her. Go have a look!

Tazzie reports she is busy on a huge stack, but her biggest joy this week is to have one of her quilts in “Australian Patchwork & Quilting” magazine. Way to go, Tazzie!

Quiltdivajulie finished a lovely black and white with green quilt that she calls “Growing Pains” and posted it today. She had two more completions online yesterday.

And Wanda at Exuberant Color is packed up to teach a class about color and making tote bags, but if you go through her week, she has been busy too.

As for me, I finished one and got the label on and entered it in my record book. I also made a pillow out of the leftovers (no photo). Then I started a landscape quilt. It has three pieces of fabric on it so far, so can hardly be called a huge accomplishment, but I am excited because this represents most of the quilts that are in my head but not yet expressed. I'll post some progress pictures soon.

In the meantime, have a great weekend!