Just a little update

  Blogger is acting weird and I can't get my pictures and words like normal.  So, it will be few words.  I finished the blocks and put them all together with dark corner stones.  It is such lovely fabric but it didn't do anything for me.  So, long story short, I found some coral colored fabric and replaced half of the dark cornerstones.  I think it makes the quilt sparkle.  Now I'm working on the applique for the borders.

Robin

Mini quilt UFO done

I'm still trying to get caught up with some UFOs.  I decided to work on this little piece that I made from the leftovers of my huge Lady of the Lake quilt made from Valentine fabric below.

about 85" X 93"

I hand quilted the mini  so it took me a while to finish.  I called the above quilt Mayfair after my favorite See's Chocolate.

Here is the completed little quilt.  It's not a very good picture but you get the idea.  It measures less than 25" square.  It has a pieced backing - I didn't get a picture.  The fabrics are from a  couple of Deb Strain lines.

I used the one on the left but I just had strips and pieces.  One thing about Deb Strain's reds,  they are over the top saturated with color and there is absolutely no bleeding.  Bonus!

I call this piece Bordeaux after another favorite chocolate.

So I can chalk up another finish in my list of UFOs.  And, hopefully I'll remember that I made it so I can use it to decorate next February.

Do you remember this quilt?

  It is my Welsh Quilt Study II from a few years ago.  I had it out on display and noticed something amiss.  Can you see it?  There is a big honking mistake that I had never noticed before.  Once you see it - you can't not see it.  I'm sure some of you noticed it before but were kind enough not to mention it to me.

I knew it was going to take a lot of tedious unpicking, rearranging, resewing, and requilting.  Is that a word?  I threw up my hands, folded it, and stuffed it in a cupboard downstairs.  MAYBE someday I would fix it but I was in no mood at the time. It's been down there for over a year.  It is like mending, my least favorite sewing task!!!

While I have been stewing about what to use for the sashing and cornerstones on the Janet Clare quilt (in my previous post) I decided it was a perfect time to use my unpicking skills on this little Welsh quilt while my mind was relentlessly trying to come up with a solution for the other quilt.

I could win a medal in unpicking!

I unpicked all the quilting, reversed the two offending strips, and appliqued it back in place.

The reason I missed seeing this mistake in the first place (and 2nd or 3rd) is because much of the hand quilting on a Welsh quilt is done from the back.  Here I am pinning the shadows of the quilting on the back

And then tracing my quilt lines on the front with water soluble marker so I can hand quilt it once again.

I couldn't just use the shadows on these pieces on the front because they were now reversed and the quilting would not have matched.

It took me a few days of concentrated effort but it's done now.  So another monkey off my back - whew!

I went to my quilt group last Thursday night.  It was the first time I have met with them since February 2020.  It was so good to see everybody and hear about their lives.  One of the ladies is moving to Hurricane so she will no longer be meeting with us.  We started out 18 strong when we began about 10 years ago but we're down to 7 or 8 now.  We need some new recruits.

It was our annual potluck and exchange.  I found two pieces of fabric and a quilt book that I wanted.  One piece is an old Terry Clothier Thompson floral and column piece from 1999.  It was a great find.  The other piece might be just exactly what I was looking for to add some "oomph" to the Janet Clare quilt. 

I hope I hope I hope.

 It's raspberry season so I had some on my waffle this morning - yum!

Have a great day without problems, conundrums, or fires to put out.  Bliss~

Robin

Oh boy! I need some help!

I didn't think it would be so hard to figure out what color to use for the cornerstones in this quilt.  I've never had this much trouble before.

 

I originally thought I would use these light star grunge squares.  But they do nothing for the quilt with this border. 

So I thought I would use the same fabric as the sashing for the border and see how that looks - meh!

I found a coral colored fabric in the stash.  Coral comes from the sea, right?  

Ooooh!  Too bold!

I tried a less intense red.  It's interesting but it doesn't blow my socks off.

This red is nice but how does it look with the blue border?

That blue border looks like water but I think it draws too much attention to itself.

I tried a gray/brown from the Riverbanks line by Jeanne Horton.  It's the right theme - kinda.

And then with the tan border. . . . . . . . . 

I think I'm going to have to come up with another plan.  

Please, please, please make some suggestions, I obviously need help.

Robin

 I realized I had not shown this quilt completed.  I finished it last month sometime.  The pattern is Comfort & Joy by Pat Wys & B. J. Laird.  It is 62" X 76".

The picture is taken in the bright sunlight so it is a little washed out.

I made it for my daughter and her family.  She says the border fabric makes it look like it's wrapped in Christmas paper.

It was really fun to make and I'm glad it's finished well before Christmas.

Off to 100 degree temps and sewing in my cool basement,

Robin

Progress on one front and retreat on another

I just wanted to show the progress from the quilt I started in my last post.  I have only eight blocks done so far but I am in no hurry.  There is no reason to be.  I'm just enjoying the pairing up of the fabrics.

We had no late frosts this year which is very unusual.  Our apricot tree is just loaded with fruit.  The last time we got more than a handful of fruit was in 2014.  The weight is really too much for the poor tree and one branch has broken.

Life is like this sometimes. . . a blessing can turn out to be more than we can manage without help (as shown by the board that is holding up the other branch).

Robin

Since last month

I have been on a self-imposed exile from my sewing room for the month of May.  Sometimes quilting takes over my life from hand quilting in the morning to designing in my head during lunch and reading blogs, to sewing in the studio all afternoon and on and on.  Meals get delayed or not done at all, and because of the pandemic there have been few extended family demands.

 I have been frustrated by the dearth of new patterns, new fabric, and new programs available for the last year (because everything was closed down) and have spent my time studying old magazines and patterns, using my stash (which is pretty good I've decided), and sewed like a mad woman to find peace in our troubled world. (I have managed to increase my stash by online buying - Hello Tilda!)

But, it was time to re-evaluate my priorities.  I love quilting, don't get me wrong.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the uninterrupted time I've had to indulge myself in all things with needle and thread.  Time is a gift.   But, it is time to get back to a more balanced life.

So Tuesday, June 1st, I went in the sewing studio and started a new quilt.  Makes sense, right?

I found this pattern in an old Quiltmania magazine and decided to make it up using all my Janet Clare stash.  I love her fabrics of shades of blue and beige and brown.  I've been more of a collector than anything and it was time to use all those lovely fabrics.

Then I remembered that I already had this pattern.  I had purchased it a number of years ago so I dug that out.  It is much easier following the instruction in English than sorting through the French/English and using inches instead of centimeters.  Quiltmania does have good instructions but the other pattern is much easier for me to follow and makes the whole experience less complicated.

This is and easy pattern anyway, just snowballs.  I will put a different border on the quilt.  Since the fabric is ocean themed and I have a little book of Janet Clare's with appliques of whales and seagulls, I will replace the flowers with flora and fauna from the sea.  Maybe a ship/boat or two will find their way into the border.

The dark blue has little waves in it.

 I've made four blocks so far.  I'm not in any hurry and there are only 30 blocks in the whole quilt.  

I need to spend the other time fixing, painting, reading, enjoying not feeling pressured to complete a project.

I will put a quilt on the frames to work on downstairs during the heat of the day.

The good news is that the quilt shops are open and are filling with fabulous things.  I went to one on Tuesday and could feel the creative energy flowing all around me.  Barbara Brackman's Ladies Legacy is finally in stores and the Halloween fabric was out (I love Kitty Corn!).  

Here is a list of the things I have done in the last year.

Non-quilty - I transcribed all my journals, compiled all the family history and pictures I had inherited, and sorted and got rid of things that don't really matter anymore.

Quilty - 

New quilt tops

1.   Cheddarback Quilt                       

2.   Earth w/her 10,000 flowrs            

3.   Hourglass Camp Quilt 1               

4.   Beyond Baskets                            

5.   Floral 36 patch                             

6.   All Around The Town  

7.   Brown bird mini                

8.   Pink & White Ice Cream Cone   

  

Quilted from previously made quilt tops

1.  The French Quilt                                       

2.  La Conserverie De Murray                      

3.  Manistique                                                 

4.   Fear Not Little Flock                                

5.   Alexander’s tied quilt                              

6.   Glory                                                         

7.   Valentine Quilt  

8.   Christmas in Cedarburg    

                                   

Quilted from newly made quilt tops

1.  Solace                                                        

2.  Blitzen Stars                                              

3.  Tiny Tree  mini                                                 

4.   Christmas Star mini                                   

5.  Comfort and Joy                                      

We're having the whole family over tonight for Navajo Tacos and Peach cobbler. 

 It's so good to be back together again.

Hope you are all safe and find joy in your day.

Robin

Not quite the way I expected.

I finished the little pink and white quilt with the ice cream cone border.  It didn't turn out quite the way I thought it would - it's the fabric.  It's sweet fabric but from a distance the pieces with blue flowers in them look muddy.  I had hoped for a sweet feminine pink quilt.

I had to trace templates for the border but I've done that before so no problem, right?

Well, they were slightly too big and with this border it has to be exact.

So I sewed the first border and it turned out too big.  I had to increase my seams on every other cone.  It was a bit tricky but I was able to do it without having to pick anything out.

The picture above shows the increased seam allowance I used on the other 3 borders.  It's just barely bigger but it worked out very well.

I didn't steam press this so it looks very wrinkled.  I was able to sew the borders on minus the corner white piece.  Then I had to carefully insert it between the two pink side pieces.  By the time I got to the fourth corner (above) I had figured it out.  I need to unpick the other three.  I think I will mark the seam allowance and stitch them together by hand, that way I can be more accurate.

 And here it is (practically all finished).  I'm not sure what I will do with it when I do finish.  That's a decision I don't have to make yet.  It is a baby quilt size.  I've been wanting to make it for so long that it feels good to have it done but it would feel better if I had a granddaughter coming soon. (My last five grandchildren have been boys and I'm grateful for them - the little rascals!)

I think the binding on this quilt is going to be quite an adventure.  

Robin