My kitchen table this morning

This is what my kitchen table looks like this morning.  I'm continuing to sew squares together with the sashing.  The unfinished row in the front is the middle row so I'm almost half done assembling this quilt top. You can see the stack of quilt blocks in the lower left that are the other half.

 This is another view of the table with my four quarts of tomatoes.  I don't get enough tomatoes at a time to fill the canner so I figure four full quarts is better than no quarts at all. 

 The quilt has been spread out on my table all week.  I just sew a few rows at a time. This morning I sewed two rows with the long sashing.  Now, it's time for my shower.

It is already good and hot so a shower will feel so good.

Robin

It's coming together

I finished the last of the 113 (4 1/2") blocks for the S'mores quilt this morning.  I'm working on the corner and setting triangles and have renewed my friendship with the seam ripper this morning.  Sigh~

The original quilt in the February 2013 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting has a darker gray sashing fabric which is delightful.  But, I'm trying to use of my stash of Jo Morton fabrics so I using what I have.  I think the lighter brighter fabric for the sashing will work out just fine.  

I thought I would make some great headway today but the peaches are ripe and the tomatoes are ripe.  So, I'll pause and get back to it this afternoon. . . or tomorrow.

Thanks for checkin' in,

Robin

This is for Nancy

I don't pretend to be an expert.  But Nancy asked me; "How do you center the triangles against the square and the next round?  The only way I've found that works is to fold the square in half two ways and press the edge that will be sewn, and do the same with the triangles, and even then they come out crooked.  Is there an easier way?" 

I think the way it was described is the most accurate way to do it.  I  (like you said) usually just eyeball the triangles on either side and do my best to make them the same size.

Then I sew them with the triangle on the top and use the edge of the triangle as the guide for my 1/4" foot. When I get two triangles sewn on top and bottom of the middle square I press the seam.

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When I have the two sides sewn on I again just eyeball the next triangle.    Turn it over . . . 

and sew on the long side of the triangle.

I press the seams to the outside and then trim the rabbit ears off.  You can see that the edges aren't perfectly even (top right).  I just trim them straight.

 

Then I center the next size triangle and line it up with the beginning and ending edges.  You can see that there is a slight curve of the underneath seam on the right of the triangle.  Again, I use the triangle as my guide for the 1/4" foot.

When all the sides are sewn I press it and then trim it to size.  Sometimes I have to use the iron to make it square.  You can see once again the the edge on the right is not even.  

I line up my ruler so there is a 1/4' seam allowance all the way around and the black diagonal line on the ruler (45 degrees) is lined up from corner to corner of the inside square.

The block above had to be slightly repositioned  (with the help of the iron) so the bottom right triangle is big enough to meet the edge of the ruler.

 And this square shows how much I usually trim off.  Now, every block is not perfect so sometimes I trim more on one side than another to get it the 4 1/2" size.  

The key for me is to not be in a hurry because my seam allowances always suffer if I rush.

I hope this helps.  I figured it would be easier to add all the pictures in my blog instead of trying to send them through email.

Happy Sewing.

Robin

Brown Bird by Renee Plains

I just finished quilting this little wall hanging called "Brown Bird".  I bought this pattern years and years ago, it's dated 2000.  It was a delight to make.  But, it has been waiting to be finished for a long time.

I wanted to make it in the same colors as the original but my fabrics didn't look as vintage.  They just looked ugly.  So, I noticed that Wendy Reed of The Constant Quilter fame often used 19th century bright prints instead of the drab ones.  So, that is why this piece looks so bright.  They are all reproduction prints.

This is the next piece to be quilted.  I want to make sure it is available for fall decorating.  The black corduroy border is so soft.  Not exactly sure how I'm going to quilt it. . . 

I'm still working on the S'mores quilt in between all the other things that are going on. I've made 61 small economy blocks so far.

 My downstairs company has gone camping for 3 days and guess what?  I'm absolutely alone today.  My husband is golfing at two different places and will be gone all day.  I don't know why being truly alone fills my cup to the brim.  I can think more clearly, I accomplish a lot more in a shorter space of time,  I feel energetic,  I feel more creative, and I'm just happy.

This is on the counter waiting for me.  I need to bottle some tomatoes.  The berries are done and now it's time to preserve tomatoes.  Preserving what my good husband grows is necessary.  It's not one of my favorite things but I'm always glad for the food during the winter.

We got over 1/2" of rain yesterday.  It was so refreshing.  July was a pretty dry month for us.

Do you remember the book by Louis Lamour called Riders of the Purple Sage?  I always wondered when the sage looked purple because its a low scrubby looking plant  in a dusty green most of the time.   Well, I found out that there are at least two other varieties of sage and here is one of them.

This is the ornamental variety.  I think it's really Salvia but it looks like Purple Sage to me.

My husband had a concert in Logan last Thursday.  It was in the old 1st Ward building.  This is the painting that was at the front of the chapel.  I tried to find out who the artis is but could not.  The architecture of the building is really wonderful.  It was stadium seating with the pews slanted up with each row.  There was a balcony in the back which is unusual in LDS churches.  It was built in 1861.

The lighting wasn't excellent but the music was really good.  My husband plays for the Salt Lake City Letter Carriers band.  No, he's not a letter carrier but they needed more band members so they accepted this accountant and made him treasurer of the organization.

 

This was the sunset last Thursday as we drove home.  It was taken as we drove through Box Elder county.  You can see the edge of the Great Salt Lake if you look closely  What a splendid explosion of the last rays of the sun for the day.

Robin

Roseville Album, Apricots, and Egypt

I finished my Roseville Album quilt top a few years ago.  I didn't do the border from the pattern because I had already spent a year appliqueing  and I was DONE.  I didn't want to do all the monkey hands that the border required.  

It is a beautiful quilt but it never felt finished,  When I was getting to the end of quilting the "Love Letters" quilt I wanted something else to work on when I wasn't at the quilt frames.  I decided to finally work on a border and after searching for ideas on the internet  I decided on scallops - 80 of them.

When I finished the scallops and the corner designs I looked at the overall quilt.  I found this little blue bird on the right that looked like it was absolutely lost among all the other colors.  

I replaced it with this golden feathery fabric.  I've given  all my bright fabrics away and this is what I could find in the stash.  I'm not sure I like it but I like it better than the ghost bird.

This is a picture of one side of the quilt to show the scalloped border.

  It looks finished now.

 I don't have a space to spread it all out and there's no one around to hold it up  The little bird gets lost in the rest of what is going on but you can see it above the chicken and to the left of the cat.

Now I need to figure out how it's going to be quilted.  If I hand quilt it that's another multi-month long project.  AND, after taking six months to quilt the last one I'm not sure I'm ready to dive in to another big quilt right now.  It measures about 92" square.  I have wondered about taking it to a machine quilter but I don't know what pattern I would like.  I know I don't just want echo quilting.  And the amount of quilting it would require would make a heavy quilt.   

Does anybody have any suggestions?  

It summer harvest season at my husband's farm (our yard).  The strawberries have finished, the raspberries have peaked but are continuing to look lovely and taste wonderful.  The apricot tree was full with beautiful orange fruit.

Many of the apricots have been picked in this picture.  But, there's still bushels left to pick.

Last Thursday my husband was picking and sorting and distributing.  The family was here for a dinner and one little guy became my husbands shadow. 

It was so cute to watch him trot back and forth with my husband from the tree to the shed.  Some of the apricots were even low enough for him to reach.  He helped pick up the ones that had fallen to the ground.

Finally he decided to taste one and was smitten.  He's our youngest grandchild and he's just delightful.

It has been hot enough that I put the crockpot outside last week instead of heating up the house all day.  I'm really good in the winter with soups, stews, casseroles, and cooking whole turkey breast etc.  But, when it comes to summer I'm not much of a salad maker so my husband suffers through a hot meal after working out in the 100 degree heat.  He doesn't complain, he's just hungry.

Egyptian blue just fascinates me.  I've been wondering how I could include it in a quilt somehow.  It's an elusive color.  I love to watch all the archeology shows on Egypt and am intrigued by the ancient Egyptian culture.  I love the scarabs too.

A shabti (above) is put in Egyptian tombs as servants for the deceased in the after life.  

A shabti can be 5 - 30cm and commonly made of blue or green glazed Egyptian faience, but can also consist of stone, wood, clay, metal or glass.

The color of Egyptian blue is kind of like "Haint Blue".  There's not one exact shade or color

 
 

I got four squares done for the S'Mores quilt by Jo Morton.  I love working with these fabrics.  Is anyone else working on this quilt with me?

I have company coming for a few days and have been doing some deep cleaning.  I sure love a clean house, I wish I would do it more often - ha!

Robin

Sweet little project

 I'm starting a new Christmas Quilt.  It's mostly applique and is in the planning stage right now.

I wanted to sew a little something at the machine when I'm not hand stitching so I got out my box of Jo Morton fabrics and started a new little project with square in a square blocks.  I saw this quilt in American Patchwork & Quilting February 2013 and have always wanted to make these squares that will are set on point with sashing in between.

I think I'll cut a few out at a time so I can just sit down and sew for 15 minutes, get my fix, and move on with the more pressing projects.  

It's a beautiful day out there but this weekend is supposed to be hot hot hot so instead of complaining, I'll just blissfully work on my projects -  sitting in front of a fan.

Robin

Well, what do you know?

 I don't think I've taken this long of a break in blogging in the 15 years since I started this blog.

I have to admit I've been bogged down with the hand quilting of  my Blackbird Designs "Love Letters" quilt.  I started quilting on January 1st and just finished on June 30th - WHEW!

I did tight rows of echo quilting in the center (that took a whole month) and then decided to do something different from diagonal lines so I would stay interested.  I know me and I get bogged down with the same thing over and over.  I absolutely love the diagonal grid when it's done but I sure don't like actually sewing it.

So, I made a cable template and used it to quilt up and down in the North and South blocks, side to side in the East and West blocks, and diagonally on the corner blocks.

The cabbage roses block is quilted up and down

The pomegranate block is quilted diagonally.

I used my blue water soluble marker to to mark everything and so I had to rinse out the whole quilt when I was done.  I'm a little disappointed - after all that work - the hand quilting doesn't show up very well at all.  

The sun is pretty bright so the colors are bright too.

Sigh, it's done and ready to use.

In between times I have been working on other things.

I finished my Moda Blockheads IV quilt top using Minick & Simpson fabrics, primarily Prairie Paisley II.  I sent it to Ray LaGrange for Quilts of Valor.  He sent me a lovely thank you note that made me feel so good.

One day I felt like sitting at my sewing machine and I didn't have anything to sew.  I had this pattern sitting out on my sewing table.  It is one that I cut out of a Quiltmaker 2002 magazine.  It just looks homey.

 

So, I gathered some OLDIES, a bunch of UGLIES, and some definite HAS BEENS and started cutting out a new quilt.  It took a while to put together and it is no beauty but I enjoyed putting it together (if you don't count all the ripping out).   I'll probably tie it for a car quilt or a picnic or a camp quilt, .

  It will be made to be used and used.

Judge for yourself  ~

The bright sun makes it look a lot prettier than it actually is.

I made the tiny quilt from the Temecula quilt Co.  I think I must have been on Instagram because I can't find the directions on her blog.  It measures 6 1/2" X 4 1/2".  It was really fun to make.

I'm also working on the border (finally) for the Roseville Album quilt.  I didn't like all the Monkey Hands in the original border.  I wanted something much more simple.  So I just appliqueing a scallop. 

 

 

So I've been keeping busy, quilting is never far from my mind

Robin

I'll leave you with some pictures of our trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico at the first of June.

First up is the most amazing bathroom your have ever seen.  I just can't get over how delightful it was.  And I think it's right up at the top as the cleanest bathroom I have ever been in.  I know, I know. . . I went to Sante Fe and I'm talking about a bathroom.  Unbelievable on both counts.

The bathroom was located inside Adelita's.  The food did not disappoint either, I ordered it Christmas.

It was actually that green.  Copper perhaps. . . 

We'd go for miles and miles and suddenly a rock formation would appear all by itself.

It was a rainy day on the way home.  Doesn't this formation look like a early American sailing ship in the ocean on other side of the bank?

Well, it should,  This is Shiprock.  The formation that Shiprock New Mexico is named after and located  right smack dab in the middle of the Navajo reservation.

We saw a lot of rocks that had tumbled down,  I assumed it was because of all the snow last winter and the freeze/thaw cycle.  It went on for miles.

Well, if you've lasted this long - you're a real trooper.  All I've got to say is that I went to Santa Fe New Mexico and was so caught up by all the sights that I only got pictures when I was holding still.  There's so much more to see.

Be sure and check out Design Wall Mondays on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to see what beautiful things others have made.