Design Wall Monday

Judy at Small quilts is looking for more reading so I decided to share my completed quilt top from the weekend.

Remember this was my inspiration.

Here is my completed top.  The recipient said they like blues and turning towards green.  I think I ticked all the boxes.

In other news.  Just as I returned to the house Saturday I got a call from Ray.  I assumed he was in the house and had my hands full so I didn’t pick up.  I finished unloading the car and he called again so I stepped into the garage.  He wasn’t there so I called him back but before it rang through he called again.  I answered and he shoutinto the phone “Get here now.  I’m at the corner of Bruton and635.  The truck is on fire!.  My heart kept into my throat.  I ran out the door, holding my breath, and the phone rang again.  This time it was my friend I had just spent the day with.  She told me Ray had called her.  I quickly told her, breathlessly, what was going on.  She would not let me off the phone and kept telling me to breathe.  I had to go less than 1.5 miles to get there.  It took the whole drive for me to get my breathing under control.

When I got there the firemen were there.  The fire was out.  I pulled up and Ray walked over.  I scanned the scene looking for our dog bandit.  A nice customer took him and put him in her vehicle.  Ray transferred him to my truck.  You could tell he was stressed.

I took pictures.  Ray salvaged what he could while I talked to the insurance company.  They dispatched a tow truck for us.  We knew we were probably in for a wait but the driver called and said 30 minutes.  We took Bandit home and unloaded Ray’s things and returned to the scene.  I called the tow driver at the 30 minute mark and he was almost there.  What a relief.  From the call to insurance to his arrival 1 hour and 12 minutes.  Now for the dance with the insurance company.  We only owned this vehicle three months and had invested lots of time and money in it to get it right.  Thank goodness for full coverage!

No idea the cause but will report back.

Blessed for no loss of life!

Linking up with Small Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Weekend Progress

I worked on my pinwheels Saturday.  I’ve got all the rows sewn together and half the top.  A few more hours of sewing and I’ll be ready for borders.  There will be a lime green inner border with the blue print as the outer border.  This came together quickly and I’m loving it!

While I was at the church with the girls I joined in on Zoom with Chookyblue and the rest of the world crew.  You should join us, just watch Chooky’s blog.  It’s lots of fun!

Linking up with Small Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

Monday Progress

This was my inspiration.  I knew I didn’t want to do the squares between the pinwheels but more pinwheels.

I lay out the parts knowing I couldn’t assemble the blocks in a traditional way since there’s a bit of interlocking.  I was very pleased with my vision but could not help but think that was a lot of background. I sat down and continued sewing HSTs together and glanced at the design wall.  

A lightbulb came on and I jumped up and started rearranging.  I planned to put all the blue and green pinwheels in the center and the black and teal all around the outside.  I started texting pictures to a few friends and my friend I was sewing with commented the lime green pinwheels were a little smooshed together and not very distinct.

A little more shuffling and I placed a black and teal pinwheel in the center.  It definitely delineated the pinwheels better in person and photographically.  I’ll have to sew a few more of the black pinwheels. 

Once I figured this out I did some more cutting so that I had all the pieces I needed for the center of the quilt cut.  If I sew at home I can be ready for borders Saturday.  Wow!  That thought is motivating.

Sew Day!

I have the day off today.  Martin Luther King day here today.  So I’m off to the church to sew with one of the girls.  I was just there Saturday and actually sewed at home yesterday for the first time this year.

Making great progress.  I have to make 144 HSTs.  I’m short 24 so that will be the first order of the day.  I’ll also cut the additional background I need and get the assembly under weigh.

I purchased the colored fabric from a friend that sells choice fabrics.  Apparently the print line was so popular it sold out.  Luckily she bought a box of assorted FQs before it was all gone!  I think I’ll need a few more for the borders.

Happy day to all!

Umbrella Ladies

I finished the top and am ready to hand the top off to the client.  She will have it quilted and I will add the binding.  I plan to use Susie’s Magic binding using the peach floral and the blue for the flange.

I finished it on January first.  One of the ladies that was sewing with me tested positive for COVID.  We have not gathered together since but will resume tomorrow.  

I have not sewn a stitch since that day.  I have been planning for my next project though.  I’ll be cutting it out tomorrow.  Have to choose the background.  I’m leaning toward the white with the gray triangles.

I’ll cut out triangles from the colors and lay them on each background to audition.  They both have great movement.  Stand by for that decision!

I’m linking up with Alycia at Finished or not Friday.  My step on the ladies is finished.

Goodbye 2021

I took my last vacation day yesterday.  I made more progress on the Butterflies and Umbrella Ladies.  I have the medallion center almost complete and will be building out the rest tomorrow, I hope.  

I have to sew the seam at the top then I’ll be adding about a 5” wide strip on each side of the medallion.  At the top and bottom I’ll add an additional segment that will bring the piece to about 80” in length.  

I originally thought about adding just the floral peach at the top and bottom with no piecing.  Then I thought that was too blah so thought about adding a slice of the solid behind the butterflies in the middle of the floral.  Better but still….yawn.  I continued to play with ideas on the design wall in my mind.  I moved on to a strip of the floral between the solid…noooope.

Yesterday when visiting with my friends while sewing I arrived at the idea of the blue bordered by the peach floral bordered by the solid.  This is what I currently plan to insert in between the sea of peach floral.  I’ll be taking some measurements on the bed to see where to place the strip.

Almost done!!

Happy New Year to all.  I hope to be sewing away the day tomorrow to set the precedent for the year.

Design As You Go or Cobbling

With the main elements of my quilt complete I started designing the elements.  I decided on a window frame look and then placed the umbrella girls and small hankies.  I lay out a few strips to see where to go next.

Today I assembled more of the units.  I decided to frame the hankies to bring their size to match the umbrella ladies.  

I then joined all the side centers.  Before I left I auditioned the size of strip the will join the sides to the center.  My friend suggested a narrow border similar to what was used in the frame.  I felt it needed to be much larger and we agreed a 2” finished width would do the job.

I imagine giving the pieces a floating feel and I think the wider strip will achieve that.  There will be about a 5” slab border of the floral print.  I’d like to add 15” or so to the top and bottom.  I don’t want it to look like I just slapped it on after giving up!  No plans for heavy piecing.  We will see.  Stay tuned! 

Merry Christmas

May you enjoy the day with those close to you.

Merry Christmas!

December OMG Complete!

My goal this month was to finish adding embroidery details to my butterfly hankies.  I did that and am beginning final assembly.

It’s been awhile since I did embroidery and had to watch a video to remember how to do the stem stitch.  It came back pretty quickly.

I outlined the bodies of the butterflies to give more definition.

I moved on to begin assembly.  I started the frame and hope to have that portion complete this week.  It will be fiddle to assemble but not difficult.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.

I’m linking with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for OMG completion..

December 2021 One Monthly Goal

I met with the ladies at church today.  I played with the layout of my quilt ladies after having made a few sketches last week.  I snapped pics as I went.

Original proposal except the background was to be a peachy solid.  I felt it was heading to the blah side so changed it to the floral fabric as the background.

New idea number 1.  This idea was sparked because I thought my client said she would hang it on the wall when I cautioned her about over washing.  I thought this was better but a little lopsided looking.  I did love the big hankies in the center.

New idea number 2.  I redistributed the ladies and hankies.  To me this was so much better.  My client really loved this one.  Definitely my favorite to this point.  I have visions of sashing the butterflies to make them look like a window.  I have a beautiful blue solid to do the trick.

New idea number 3.  I felt like I already had a winner but had sketched this idea so thought I’d give it a try. I wasn’t really liking where it was going so gave up.

My goal for December is to add the embroidery stitches to the butterfly hankies.  I’ll run a stem stitch along the upper edge of the wing, either side of the body and add antanae.  I may have to buy more black floss but that will be easy enough.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts One Monthly goal linkup.

November OMG Complete

My goal was to finish appliqueing the six small hankies.  I finished that task today.

I’m playing with the final layout.  I had originally envisioned a lot of solid pink in the background but now I’m not so sure.  I think the appliqué  elements have enough background already and adding more won’t improve it.  I’ll do some more sketching and laying out before I decide.

I was shooting for a 60” x 80” size but then the person I’m making it for said she would hang it on the wall.  I’ll be reworking this size to be smaller to better bit a wall.  That size may work as we have 10’ ceilings in most rooms.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for her OMG completion linkup.

Slow Stitching Sunday

I should say slow stitching weekend.  Starting Friday night I joined Chookyblue’s zoom.  I really enjoy these ladies company and it has encouraged me to work on my handwork.  My goal this month was to appliqué six hankies onto a fabric square.  

i had two sides of one hankie done when I joined the zoom.  When I left the chat I had two completed blocks.  Saturday I joined my friends to sew at church.  There I completed two more and prepped the sixth block.  The fifth is ready to appliqué and will be the fussiest of them all with an intricate lace corner.

Pardon the wrinkles.  They are thrown on the bed for a photo op.

I will join Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday today to finish up the last two blocks.

Here are some photos of a pooped puppy.  My friends love to tease him that they are chasing him.  He runs like crazy and by the end of the day is ready for a good snooze.

Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends!

November 2021 OMG

It seems I need a little motivation on a project and setting this goal seems to motivate me.  I am cobbling together a quilt from some treasures that my client and her bff bought and wanted to make a quilt from.  Sadly the BFF died unexpectedly and my client realized she didn’t really know where to begin.

I sketched up several ideas and decided to applique the hankies she wanted in the quilt.  The problem is that I’m not much of a handwork person.  I can do it I just haven’t done a lot.  I’ve found that I do enjoy it.

Here are the first four I’ve done that I need to add embroidery details to.

Now I have to applique six more.  They are small and will be set on point.  The starting seems to be the issue.

One is not pictured as I need to cut another background piece.  I have the threads pulled.  Now to start!

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal linkup.

October 2021 OMG Complete

I didn’t mean to skip blogging the entire month.  I seems handwork keeps me off my devices for the most part.  I will admit that I found a game that is stealing my free time.  I need to set limits on that.

I put the last stitches in the quilt repair I targeted for this months goal.  I found places where it appears there was a previous fix but they didn’t add quilting stitches so I finished that part as well.

All these triangles were whipstitched together.  In order for the stitches to not show I made lots of tiny stitches.

My repairs are the purple and plaid.  These two photos show them as I was adding them in.  You can see the quilting stitches.

At this distance it seems to stick out like a sore thumb.

A full shot shows it blends with all the other solids and plaids.  There were lots of loose seams that had to be stitched in addition to the replaced blocks.  I told the owner to fix it or have it fixed as she finds a loose spot and not let them build up again.  I return it today and hope she’ll be pleased.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for her OMG linkup.