Long Arm Action!

Back in January, I made a goal to quilt at least 2 quilts per month on the long arm machine. In just the last weekend, I did #22 and #23, so that means I am right on target for achieving my goal. Hooray!

I loaded a special quilt for a Frienzie on Sunday afternoon, then quilted it that evening. Since I plan to write a full post on it later, I will just provide a little peek at it now.

These are all batik fabrics, as is the backing, which you can see in the upper left corner. It's definitely a bright, cheery quilt.

I bound the quilt on Monday morning, then loaded another quilt that afternoon, and then quilted it! Gosh! Two quilts in two days! What kind of animal am I?

Earlier in November, my friend Pam asked me to quilt this for her, and I decided I needed to stop procrastinating and "get'r done!" So I did. The blocks are all from her husband's Aunt Margie. They must be orphan blocks, and Pam simply sewed them together. Pam seems to think that Aunt Margie was practicing some new techniques on a few of these blocks - curves, applique, etc. So the look is really random, but for Pam and Charlie's families who knew Aunt Margie, I am sure this will be a special keepsake.

 

 Pam didn't need me to bind this, so it was super easy to fold it up and take it to her this afternoon. 

It feels good to have an item checked off my to-do list. 

It also feels good to know that I am on target to meet my goals of quilting 24 quilts this year.

I only have 93 more stored in my closets yet to quilt. *yikes!*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

An Oldie - Harvest Mix

This entire last week has not seen any sewing action at all - too busy with turkey-day prep! So why don't we take a look at a golden oldie - Harvest Mix. 

Many years ago, when Lynette Jensen's Thimbleberries books were being released one after another, I was a huge fan. From one of those books, At Home With Thimbleberries Quilts (1997), I made Harvest Mix. Even as old as this quilt is - maybe 20 years? - it still looks so great each fall when I pull it out of storage to drape over a chair.

At 56" x 66", this quilt would fall into the lap quilt category and mine is a very close imitation of the one in her book. Because I loved the quilt in the book so much, I pulled fabrics from my stash that mimicked her version. The blocks are big - 9" I believe - and they goes together quite quickly. Jensen writes the easiest patterns, I have found. I return to them time and time again.

Just like with that 6-pointed star I shared last week, I love studying the blocks and the fabric combinations in Harvest Mix. I'm glad that I still love this little quilt after so many years.

I am actually thinking about making another one of these quilts - maybe in a springtime colorway. That would look quite nice, I bet, and again, I would use all manner of stash fabrics.

This afternoon, I loaded a quilt onto the longarm machine; I will be working on that in hope of having it ready to gift on Wednesday. Crossing my fingers that all goes well! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Good morning and my best Thanksgiving Day wishes to you all! We are hosting a houseful of family today for a traditional feast - I hope you find love and happiness around your table, too.

Back to quilting and stitching tomorrow! 

Addendum

Yesterday, I talked about it being "three-quilt night" season. I went on to talk about the third quilt I throw onto the bed each night for an extra layer of warmth. 

But why ignore the other two quilts? Let's look at them today. I will soon be changing these out for Christmas quilts, so we'll take a quick peek.

Long Road Home always gets pulled out for fall. The colors have an autumn vibe, and gosh, it is such a treat to see it every day. I machine pieced the top, and really wanted to follow the pattern's suggestion of using light fabrics for the solid blocks. But, even more than replicating the pattern, I wanted to use stash fabrics, and I am so glad I did. This quilt became an excellent scrap quilt, and like the quilt in yesterday's post, I frequently find myself studying all the variety of prints. It has a lot of my favorite fabrics.

I hand quilted Long Road Home because I needed something to demonstrate at History Day in 2012. Gosh, a whole decade ago! The quilting would be easy - straight grid lines. Perfect for demonstrating purposes; I would be able to quilt and visit at the same time.

I took this to History Day for the next two years, 2013 and 2014. Geesh. In searching through old posts, I found that I finished the quilting in May of 2015. It languished in the frame for a very long time.

The second quilt is not necessarily a fall quilt, by any stretch, but it was handy, so I layered it on.
 

This is English Elegance. It feels more appropriate for springtime than fall - oh well. I hand pieced the quilt top a whole lotta' years ago - in the early 2000s, I estimate. Possibly in the late 2000s, I asked my grandmother to quilt it for me, which she did, bless her. The complete history on English Elegance is in this post, so I won't go into all the details today. 

And then, of course, we have 6-Point Star to top things off - the three quilts currently keeping us warm and toasty on these cold November nights.  

Come December, I will change out these for my Christmas quilts. Those are always fun to revisit each year. Are you good about changing out the quilts on your beds? Do you actually use your quilts?  

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Seeing Stars

 Here in Ohio we have definitely moved into three quilt territory. That is, three quilts on the bed at night! Brrrr! After a really warm fall, we have taken a very sharp turn into frigid.

So, that third quilt I am adding to the bed each night is this beauty finished about 6 years ago, Six-Pointed Stars. I took a long time making this quilt, and it has come to be one of my favorites.

Each morning when I am making the bed, this quilt is folded and spread across the foot of the bed. Making the bed is never a chore for me, as I love looking at a bed covered in quilts, and I love studying this quilt in particular as I fold it.

Since this quilt has been around awhile, I have a really long history with some of these star blocks. And I love seeing the variety of combinations - star points and star centers, that is. It is fun revisiting this quilt each day. No star uses the same set of fabrics and some combinations are really pleasing to look at.

I thought you might just like to see some close-ups of a few of the stars. So sit back and scroll, baby, scroll. For any of you who have quilted for awhile (more than 30 years!) you may recognize some old fabrics in these.

If I didn't have a gazillion other quilts I want to make, I would totally stitch up another one like this. It was entirely hand-pieced, and I remember packing up little baggies of fabric that I carefully cut with templates. It was an easy project to take on the road. I am sure I made my first stars for this quilt while at track and cross country meets, on road trips to my in-laws' house, and possibly a few vacations. 

Because the entire top was pieced by hand, it was an easy decision to quilt it by hand, too. That took me awhile. All told, it wouldn't be too wild a guess to say that I spent a good 15 years working on this quilt. I know that I finished it in 2016 because I entered it into our county fair that year.

This week looks to be devoted to family - we are visiting our daughter and new grand daughter today, and on Thanksgiving we are hosting the family feast. I will have to devote Wednesday to all manner of food prep and house prep.

I hope you are enjoying this week and maybe you can do a bit of sewing for me! Or, if you are busy elsewhere like I am, then just enjoy the work you have done on some of your favorite finished quilts!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Gosh, I'm really changing it up today! The slow stitching I plan to do involves making Christmas ornaments. Not for me, but for DDErin, a supreme lover of Christmas.

It's a Christmas request!

The last time we visited them, she sent this hefty pink box home with me along with a request - would I make these for her? She'd intended to do them but now with a newborn, she knows she won't, yet still wants them for her decorating.
 

Seems like something I would enjoy making, and one hardly ever says "no" to such a request, so I am getting started.

This kit is from Purl Soho, and I know Erin has ordered other projects from them. This is just right up her alley - she is artsy, crafty, and a little bit bling-y - these ornaments have just the right amount of sparkle for her holiday decorating taste.

Materials included will make 18 ornaments with decorative stitching and embellishments on one side. The fabric is felt, and I am in the cutting phase at present. After all are cut out, I will - one at a time - mark with erasable ink the stitching lines. The booklet included with the kit seems to do a good job or walking one through the steps. Eventually, I will get into a rhythm and I will soon be speeding right through these.

The colors certainly are not the typical Christmas colors, but they will look quite elegant in Erin's decor. I am eager to finish one. I will be sure to post an update for you when I do.

Joining the fun over at Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching party. You're invited, too! Go have a look around. You are sure to see other Christmas projects in the works.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

It's All In The Placement

Today's post will illustrate the importance of thinking things through before diving in on a project.

The quilts used in illustrating this concept are Cottage Green and Autumn Green, both pictured below and made this year.

Cottage Green

Autumn Green

I'd had the florals since April 2021, to the best of my recollection. The purchase of these fabrics falls firmly into the impulse category - I had no plan, no pattern, no clue whatsoever as to how the two florals would be used. All I knew at the time was that I really, really liked these two green florals- which is weird because I typically don't go overly crazy for green. Here are some closer views.

 

Floral used in Cottage Green.

Floral used in Autumn Green.

In January, when I was formulating my goals for the year, I was very serious about making a Snowball Quilt. Made with two very basic blocks, the 9-patch and the snowball - both easy to make - together, they result in a wonderful design. I thought it would be pretty cool to make at least one snowball quilt with one or the other of these green florals.

For several months, I kept these fabrics out in the quilting room, periodically auditioning fabrics to pair with them. It was a long process but I did eventually find fabrics to use with the florals.

So with those loose constructs, I proceeded, and in March I began Cottage Green to be made with a solid green and a white-on-white grunge, both from the stash. I have made 9-patch blocks for forever, and went to work stitching them up with enthusiastic speed. Then I did the same with the snowballs. Easy. Fun. Fast. Satisfying. I had the top together in no time.

As it was coming together, I really wasn't seeing the snowballs as I thought I would. Whaaaat??? It took me awhile, but I eventually discovered the error of my ways. 

The 9-patches were made wrong. I am accustomed to making the dark squares in the 5s spot and the neutral squares in the 4s spot. For this quilt, however, the opposite setting is desired.

Now, I still liked my quilt, but I sure didn't have the true snowball quilt I had hoped for. I went ahead and finished the first quilt, Cottage Green, and promised myself that I would make the other green floral into a proper Snowball Quilt.

With the darks and lights positioned in the correct place, the snowball shows up so much more clearly. Like I say in my title, it's all in the placement! I love both of these quilts, but I sure had to work harder than I ought to have in order to get a snowball quilt, right? 

Here are the two quilts side by side. Same two blocks - snowball and 9-patch. The way the 9-patch blocks are put together, though, makes all the difference. See how important placement is? A seasoned quilter knows this; and I do know this; I just proceeded without thinking!

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Polka Dots and Posies

You knew, of course, that I spent three days last week at a retreat with some of the Frankfort Girls. We always go to Nelsonville's Needles 'n Pines Retreat House - it has comfortable bedrooms, plenty of space, and close proximity to a fabric store and restaurants (although we eat in, as often as not).

I really have not detailed very fully what I worked on, so let me correct that in today's post. Way back in August, I began making - surprise! - 9-patch blocks with some beautiful florals. I made several with white background fabric, and and equal number with a light blue polka dot fabric. The resulting blocks are gorgeous.

After making several of each versions, I made an equal number of HSTs for setting purposes. I wasn't sure exactly what my setting would be, but I did decide that something interesting could be done with HSTs.

That link above shows two potential layouts for the blocks. I was entirely uncertain about how to proceed, so I did what any self-respecting quilter would do - I put it away for awhile.

I took the whole business to retreat, and found that I still liked the vertical look of the HSTs - which means that the blocks will be set on point. what I will do for side and corner triangles, I do not yet know, but I will figure out something when I get there.

My first idea was to put the blue 9-patches in the blue columns, and the white 9-patches in the white columns, like you see laid out below.

This creates very strong vertical columns though, and I was not sure that was the look I desired. So I traded out the blocks. I put the white background blocks into the blue columns, and the blue background blocks into the white columns, shown below.

I do think I like this better. It seems more visually interesting. Just for kicks and giggles, I laid the blocks out straight rather than on point to see what diagonal lines would look like.

Meh. Not what I want, so I am going with that previous look. I will calculate how many more of all these blocks I need, then proceed with making them. As I go, I am sure I will be brainstorming the side and corner triangles. I have plenty of each fabric remaining, and I fully intend that the blue polka dot will ultimately serve as those bordering triangles.

I definitely enjoy the challenge of creating a quilt using the fabric I have on hand. The goals are simple for me - make optimal use of the pretty stuff - in this case, the delicate florals - and set it all together so that the quilt on the bed will be as pleasing as possible.

Happy Quilting, Friends!