Forgot to show this!

Here is a photo of my completely finished Star Table Topper. It was an online project offered by CD Designs. This project was completed ENTIRELY by hand. I blogged here about the troubles I had when I was trying to hand quilt. I guess my stitching did improve through the project as I can see a real difference in the first quilting stitches to the last. I also stopped breaking needles quite as often!

  

Not much sewing or quilting happening here this week. I have been too busy doing year-end books to have the time or energy for much else. Hopefully, I will be all caught up and finished by next week!

Week 5 Stash Report

Used this week: 0 M
Used Year to Date: 10.1 M
Added this week: 0 M
Added Year to Date: .9 M
Net used for 2010: 9.2 M

Just Another Sunday

I seem to remember that line from a song but I don't remember the actual song. I think it was a female singer..  Anyone remember??

Here is my finish for this week, all quilted and bound!! It's the Framed Four Patch Table Runner and is my second finish for the PhD challenge. I just did stitch in the ditch by machine to quilt it so it went quickly. I pieced the backing to give it a bit more interest.

Week 4 STASH REPORT

Used this week: .75 M
Used Year to Date: 10.1 M
Added this week: 0 M
Added Year to Date: .9 M
Net used for 2010: 9.2 M

Be sure to go to Judy's site and check out how everyone else is doing this week with their stash busting efforts. Also, if anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet I use (it keeps track of totals automatically), please let me know. I'd be happy to share it with you.

The Beginnings of My Journey in Quilts

*** Looking for my Joseph's Coat posts??  I goofed setting my link up (insert red face here)! Please click HERE ***

Robyn at Daisy Quilts has issued an invitation for everyone to tell about their first quilts and how we began. Click on the "Where did we Begin?" button above to go to her page. But, before you leave, here is my story.
The very first quilt I can remember working on was in 1969 or 1970. It was a tradition at that time, especially in rural areas, that young ladies had a "hope chest" to take with them when they married. For my family, this was basically a collection of linens such as tea towels, pillowcases, doilies and at least one quilt. There may have been more, but those are the only items I can really remember.
I have been sewing since I was a child. I also learned the fine art of embroidery on tea towels and pillowcases. I have always loved any kind of needlework and it seemed to come very easily to me. At about 11 years of age, I joined a 4-H Sewing Club where I learned dressmaking skills along with other stitching arts.
When my mother decided it was time to get a quilt into my hope chest (I was 17 after all), I was already a fairly competent seamstress. I found a pattern for a quilt in a magazine and we set out to make the quilt. The pattern I picked was the bow-tie. These were the days BEFORE rotary cutters and fast techniques... so every piece for every block was traced and cut with scissors. I can still remember mom getting frustrated with the "Y" seams so she passed it over to me to sew the blocks. Once I had the top put together, the ladies from our church came to the house and helped hand quilt using pearl cottons - everyone around one frame.
So here it is... my first quilt (or what is left of it). It has been a part of my family for all these years.

I've only recently rescued it from my youngest daughter when she told me that it needed a "few" repairs. I almost fainted when I heard that it was being put through the laundry almost weekly...
Since all the fabrics used for the bows were scraps, this quilt holds many memories in those fabrics.
My mothers dresses and aprons from the 40's and 50's. Scraps from my sister's clothing

Remnants from a blouse I made in either 4-H or home-EC and a skirt which I sewed.


And my favorite piece is a bit of paisley fabric left from a coat and dress I made to wear on my first airplane trip when I went to Expo 1967 in Montreal. (That was when I decided I wanted to be an airline stewardess.. unfortunately at 5' 10", I was too tall.)Remnants from baby clothing made for my nephew Neil who was born when I was only 10.My second quilt didn't happen until the late 1980s. This time a chose an appliqué pattern, again from a magazine. The fabric I used was given to me by my mom again... FORTREL from used clothing and leftover yard goods. This stuff wears like iron (and feels much the same - not at all cuddly) and she felt it was a great fabric for quilts as they would not easily wear out. At the time it never occurred to me that I could go buy fabric just to cut up to make quilts so I used what I had been given.
This quilt is so heavy and warm you can hardly sleep under it! No fear of it ever wearing out! It is a long, double size, machine appliqued (before I knew about fusibles) and then finished by tying as there was no way you could actually do a quilting stitch through this heavy stuff!
I took a beginners quilting course shortly after doing this quilt in order to learn how to use "the newest thing in quilting" at the time... a rotary cutter with an acrylic ruler and self healing mat. I made a simple log cabin quilt all in pastel pinks and blues during that class. I think my daughter has passed it on to my granddaughter who is still using it!

OK, now you can go to Robyn's blog and check out everyone else's first quilts and their stories! Add yours too!

Learning to Hand Quilt Woes

Ok - I really, really want to be able to hand quilt some of my projects. I've done a little hand quilting before, a pillow top and on a runner (see post here) but, I never did use a hoop. I just held everything in my hands and stitched. I guess it turned out ok.. but, to me, its still not the "right" way?? 

I went out and bought myself a quilting hoop on a stand. It sat in its box by the door in my sewing room for almost a year before I finally got it out and put it together. Then, it sat there in the corner for a while longer until I got brave enough to actually put something in the hoop.

I decided that my recent EPP project would be a good size to start with so prepared everything. I thread basted my sandwich so I wouldn't need to worry about pins. Fabrics are all cotton and of good quality. Batting is warm & natural. Needles size 9 quilting.

I've read all the instructions for doing the quilting stitch, watched tv how-to shows, seen demonstrations... I can wear a thimble and forget I have it on. I just can't seem to get even stitches and it feels SO awkward. How am I ever going to graduate to bigger quilts?? My work certainly won't take any prizes anytime soon.

Who says this is supposed to be relaxing? Are needles supposed to bend like that and break??? At this rate, this project is going to eat up 20 or more needles. I'm sure that, back when sewing needles were prized possessions, they didn't go through them like this on a small quilting project! What am I doing wrong?

A Hand Made Christmas

 

4sets of Potholders from scraps

Another 4 sets of Potholders from scraps

Christmas has come and gone for another year. Hope everyone's was wonderful. I spent the last few weeks prior to the big day doing lots of baking, sewing and knitting. My projects were mainly for family so I didn't dare show pictures here of what I was doing. Now that all the gifts have been delivered and opened, I can share them with you.

Old embroidery test pieces used as back of potholders

Potholders for my sisters and daughters, made from squares leftover from my mystery star quilt and some machine quilted/embroidered blocks for the backs. Three of the smaller ones were made from 9-patch blocks that were in mom's collection which I inherited.

                                                                 

A couple of the sets were made with leftovers from this table runner. I call it Crazy Holly and it is my third finish in the New Year's Eve challenge.

 
 
Knitted slippers for two of my grandsons. I have another two pair I am still working on as well.
 
A wooden trinket box that my granddaughter saw and told me she wanted on the morning of the 24th. I brought it home and was able to stain it that afternoon and spray varnish it late that night so it would be ready to wrap in the morning. She was surprised and really loved it! That made it all worthwhile.

Finally, I made a set of Junior cook sized oven mitts that I, unfortunately, forgot to take a picture of.

Another Dilemma

In my quest to finish things, I thought I would work on one of the many small kits that I have collected. This is a kit for a baby quilt that I 'won' on eBay a while back. All the fabric is precut and there was a sample block included with the instructions. The finished size according to the instructions is 30" x 43".

Here's my problem. Take a look at the PINK sample block. Besides being badly out of square, you notice that the white square has had the center corner chopped off. Also the top right of the block looks like it was trimmed and the diagonal line is nowhere near the corner in order to get a nice match with the next block. Some of this is due to trimming but the center point of the white square is due to that square being too large or the triangles on either side being cut too small.

I made the green and purple block using some scraps. Since I can't make the small triangles larger, I cut the center white square down by 1/4" from the size that is in the kit so that the triangles that are sewn to either side will meet in the center to give a good point on the white square. The large triangle is then quite oversized and had to be trimmed down, which I did after the block was sewn. 

I believe the original block size was meant to be 4 1/2" unfinished (possibly). After trimming, the maximum size I can get is about 4 3/8" which really is not so far off.

My dilemma is this - Is it more important to get that nice join on the white, recut the 50 some white squares in the kit and loose some of the finished size of the quilt, OR should I sew the block with the white square the size it is which will chop off the center corner of the white square as in the 'kit sample" but will result in a larger finished quilt.? What would you do?

Finish #2 in Finn's Challenge

I've been challenging myself to stay OFF of the computer and spend more time in the sewing room. Now, its starting to pay off! Here it is... the Late Summer's Evening mystery quilt top totally pieced complete with borders! I'm counting this as a finish for Finn's challenge. It measures 84" square so I had to take the picture outside on the clothes line since I don't have a big enough empty floor space to lay it on!

I keep looking at the center block and wishing I had used a bit stronger yellow, or maybe even a red, as the pale yellow seems to almost disappear. The thought goes through my head that I should pick out that center square and re-do it...

I had mentioned in a previous post the English Paper Piecing mystery that I signed up for at CD Designs. Here are my steps 2, 3 and 4. It is interesting guessing how this might go together, but then, we don't know if all of these parts are joined or if there are other pieces to go between them yet. All in all, its a fun project with an easy time line. Each step is easily finished in about 3 hours.

   

Keep on stitchin' until next time!

Finish #1 for the challenge!

This was a hand applique class taught by Doreen, a member of our local guild, Prairie Rose Quilters. Once the center was finished, I added borders with Cathedral Window miters. I wanted to hand quilt this piece in order to learn the process a bit better. This is the second item that I have hand quilted. I finished it with a zippered back so it can be used either as a pillow or as a wall hanging. This is my first finish for Finn's New Years Eve Challenge!

   

My first hand quilted project was this table runner which I made last summer (pre-blog). It is actually a "Quilt as you sew" project but, after it was sewn, I felt it needed something more. I adapted a stencil I had for the border and the triangles, then did some straight lines. It proved to be a great portable learning project during my recovery from hip surgery. My hope is to be able to do more hand quilting as I find it very soothing.

Those blasted UFO's

I have whole totes full of them. I know this because I just found another container full of tops, all of which are completed except for borders. Most have the binding cut and stored with them. I guess I was organized better at some point! lol 

I did a google search and found a site called The UFO-RPHANAGE for Quilters that has ideas for finishing UFO's as well as other topics. A couple that made me giggle were:

         "A stalled project gets a "time out". The project gets put away in a drawer or closet for a prescribed amount of time (days, weeks, months) and then is allowed to come out for another attempt at progressing smoothly. " 

Personally, I am really good at this one except that I didn't set a time limit other than "some other time"! That's how I accumulated so many UFO's! I'm thinking I need to go back and put some dates on things.

         "Start a new, small project (wall hanging, table runner or simple baby quilt), that can be finished in a couple of days. Just starting and finishing one project gets me inspired to finish some of the UFO's that have been sitting." 

This one was how I justified working on new projects... and added to my UFO's! Everyone finds different things that work for them.

Seriously, there are some very good ideas there such as:

• Set a timer for 15 min and work on a UFO before going on to your current project
• Choose not to finish the project as it was originally defined. Use the blocks to create something else (like a table runner or a tote) and put the extra fabric back into your stash.
• Get together with a group of others for a day of finishing UFO's
• Make a list of all UFO's to see if there is a pattern of when you stop working on a project.

The last one made me realize that I have a problem with borders....  I'm not sure why as most borders are not difficult. Perhaps its just having a small space to work in? 

OK - I am going back in there right now to sew the first borders onto my mystery quilt!

CBS News on Quilting

I found this CBS News report on quilting.. featuring Ricky Timms.  Be sure to check it out HERE. His work is just amazing! He is just like many of us, trying to get someone new interested in the allure of the quilt.

Oh, and I want to go to one of these huge quilt shows one day. Perhaps I can plan my vacation time around one.  My family's usual winter vacation spot is Fairmont Hot Springs in BC. Since I can no longer ski, I drag along my sewing machine and more projects than I will ever be able to finish.  I spend my days happily working toward finishing a UFO during that week and, of course, soak in the hot springs every night. It is truly wonderful.

Thursday Supper & other stuff

What's for supper tonight?? 

Chilli Parlour Chilli with cheese and Multi-grain toast!  mmmmmmm :)

Under the dishes is my first try at a tessellating design from the book called Square Dance - Fancy Quilts from Plain Squares - by Martha Thompson.  This method takes the hard work out of making one of these designs.  This tester is a place mat that is fun and easy to do too!

I have to show you what CJ brought home for me the other day....

It was so sweet of him to bring me flowers "just because". 

Things are progressing slowly on our Home Reno project. We both seem to be getting tired and easily distracted. We did go to Jysk yesterday and purchased the curtain rods and drapes for in the livingroom and diningroom. We also picked up blinds for behind the livingroom drapes as the sun can really heat up that side of the house. Now I am anxious to get the trim around the windows painted and the final coat of paint on the walls so I can hang drapes again. I would REALLY like everything to get back to normal around here...

Setting Goals

I have been spending a bit of time lately Blog-Hopping.  I have seen SO many interesting blogs as I am attempting to visit every blog listed by Just Us Quilters.   The thing is... there are MORE every day, which is actually quite wonderful!  I love seeing what everyone else is doing and I am envious of those who seem to be able to accomplish so much.  It seems that I am spending more and more time on the computer looking at quilting stuff than I spend actually doing any quilting! I think I need to set some goals (rules) for myself.  Peg at Happy In Quilting has issued a challage for finishing quilts.. her challenge is to turn 5 flimsies into quilted quilts by the end of July!  Yikes...  I think I would be doing well to get one done.   Hmmm... perhaps I could try the "Quilt for an Hour" a day idea.  You would think I could manage that as I have no kids to watch (unless the dog counts).  I KNOW>>> I will give myself the same amount of times to sew as I spend on the computer!!  Uh-oh... I don't think my partner CJ will agree to that one!  Maybe, I will take only as much computer time as I spend quilting... but then, it may take months between blog updates!  lol  No matter what, it seems to be a situation that I am going to have to spend a bit of time figuring out how to resolve it.  Besides, there are still renovations on the house to finish... Happy stitchin' until next time...