Proper Reveal

I realized my error when writing the previous post; I'd never properly photographed and shared my finished quilt top Floral Diamonds. That is an oversight I shall correct today.

In that previous post, I was attempting to show the earlier quilts made with William Morris fabrics along with this one, the one on which I changed my mind.

This quilt top was largely made in Florida, and I finished it - squaring it up - after getting back home. It was the perfect traveling quilt as this "one-block wonder" required no pattern or major concern with counting or units or  placement. Actually, with all the diamonds cut ahead of time, I really only concerned myself with attempting to evenly distribute the colors and fabrics as randomly as possible.

I'm so glad that I did this quilt in florals and not the William Morris fabrics as I'd originally planned. This floral look pleases me so much, and I am really liking how my current WM quilt is shaping up.

This old business can now be put to the archives. I will add a picture to my records for '23 completions, and move on with current endeavors.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

A New William Morris Project

Exciting news! Finally, I have begun a new project! It has been months since I've been able to say that.

For the longest time, I've wanted to use my rather large stash of William Morris fabrics. The fact that I already have made two quilts with these fabrics, notwithstanding, I sure would love to use the leftovers someway, somehow.

I made Lil' Orphan Scrappy last year. It was a joy to make; it awaits quilting, as most of my quilts do. Here is a pretty decent picture of my flimsy. 

It was a bit harder to locate the first William Morris quilt - Tapestry; I had to go all the way back to 2014 to come up with this one.

Last fall, I nearly began a third quilt with my William Morris fabrics, which by then had been augmented with a donation of WM scraps from quilter friend Becky. Just before making my first cut, I decided that the diamond quilt I had planned to make would just not be very pleasing. My WM stash was dark - lots of navy, black, green and gray. I went a different direction on the diamond quilt, and put the WM fabric aside.

As so many quilters do, I collect quilt pictures from social media. When I come across one that really appeals to me, I save pics in a file and I frequently peruse the pictures saved there. Based on colors alone, one pic I'd saved made with Betsy Chutchian fabrics would translate very well with my WM fabrics. Here's the inspiration pic.

Photo borrowed from Pinterest.

Now, I have even had a further augmentation of my WM stash! Quilter friend Helen brought me more scraps last week! She had some lighter, brighter colors - a welcome addition.

So this week, I have made economy blocks out of my WM stash. Not having a pattern, I made a few trial blocks to get my sizes right. Eventually, I had my plan and have been happily stitching away with these beautiful fabrics.

Those additional colors from Helen have really made a difference in how this quilt looks, and I really am liking it. The inspiration quilt is gorgeous, but I like the version my quilt is becoming. 

My blocks are 5.5" unfinished, so I will need far more blocks than these 30 in order to have a decent quilt top. I have plenty more fabrics to cut and add in, so more blocks will not be a problem. 

 Hang around for awhile! You know I will be bringing updates on my progress. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Frankfort Girls Sewing

Friday morning I was happy to host the Frankfort Girls for our biweekly Friday morning get together. 

We were missing a few members, but we still manage to have a good time together while also making headway on our various hand-stitching projects.

Helen, Becky, Terry, Sharon, Jayne

Both Sheryll and Jan were away on vacations with their husbands - Sheryll to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! Definitely a milestone worthy of a vacation!

Helen had a finished quilt top to share; she told us that she is aware of a few points placed incorrectly, but that she is leaving it all alone; no "unsewing" and "resewing." The fabrics in her quilt are the softest, cuddliest flannels and homespuns. When finished, this will be the quilt everyone wants on chilly winter nights.

Short and sweet today, folks!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

UFO: Blockheads 2 Attempt

An effort was made, but I have come to the decision that this version of Blockheads 2 has reached its finish. With only 24 of the 52 blocks completed, this is all the farther I am going. 

Several factors played into this decision. And I really cannot say that one was any more significant than another. The whole thing just felt off.

First, I am not liking that blocks are all these different sizes. I was willing to give it a chance, but there is just way too much going on here for me - far too busy! I can handle a lot of color and movement in a quilt, but this just screams chaos to me.

Next, I tried using an old fabric pack of fat quarters that I had; while it is historically accurate fabric, which I generally like, it was exceedingly busy and somewhat garish. Coupling this fabric and a bunch of busy blocks -  well, that's bad news in my eyes. 

Lastly, I was simply not enjoying the process of making this quilt. Usually, I am excited to see the outcome. Not once was I eager to see this as a finished quilt. I suppose because I wasn't thrilled with either the fabric or the haphazard blocks, it goes without saying that the construction process would be a chore. I did a fair amount of grumbling and complaining to the girls at retreat. Sorry, ladies!!

Why put myself through any more agony? Just say it's done. Move on.

So that is what I'm doing. It will be a nice lap quilt or wall hanging, if needed. 

I will sew these 24 blocks together using the layout shown in the picture as my guide; I may move around a few of the smaller blocks, but this is the basic idea of what will result. I want to get this off my sewing table and move on to something I can be more excited about!

I guess I have learned some lessons here. 

Hope you are having a wonderful Friday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Final Report From Retreat

I am approaching the expiration date on the content of today's post. Yes, this material comes from the old business department. The retreat ended last Friday; today we wrap it up.

Jan continued to outdo herself with yet another finished top. In addition, she made backings and bindings for them! What an overachiever! Click here to see her earlier retreat efforts - and everyone else's.

 

Yet another 3-yard quilt.

Flower panels; Jan created this pattern.

 Susan finished her first bunny quilt and proceeded right to work on a second one for her granddaughter. 

Her previous bunny quilt had only 9 blocks.

Terry made a lot of parts of quilts. She brought some labor-intense projects, and made good progress on them, but unlike Jan and Susan, had no finishes. Here are examples of the type of progress she made.

All the pieced blocks are made; all the applique blocks are made. The trouble is that the applique blocks are not large enough. Terry is in the "figure something out" stage, trying to salvage the efforts.
 

This basket quilt will be stunning; I believe the issue she ran into was running out of one of the fabrics.

 I don't have a picture of the pattern for this next quilt, but the borders for it are two rows of HSTs - gah! Can you imagine how daunting it would be to know all these have to be made!?

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how pretty these two fabrics look together!? So perfect. Using triangle papers, Terry made quick and accurate work of these. She went from one row to 4 rows in relatively short order. Although, I am fairly sure that for her it didn't feel like short order!

And these are just for the inner border; remember, there is an outer border of triangles, too. Whew; that's a lot of repetitious sewing, but it will look so fabulous when finished.

As for me, well, like Terry, I did not have any finishes, either. I took the 2018 tub labeled "Blockheads 2." When doing a sampler quilt, the work is full of short bursts of work as the quilter must go block by block. To add to the slow progress, I did a fair amount of "correcting" along the way.

Case in point, the block above was supposed to finish at 12" but mine was a full inch short. Good grief. What had I messed up?

Well, nothing, as it turned out. I just needed to add another tiny row around the block to complete it. Duh.

Another case in point, I completely reworked this large 24" block. Its first incarnation had neutral fabric for the large corner blocks.

After seeing all the smaller blocks alongside this, it was clear that it was too colorless. Now, take a look at this block with some added pizzazz.

Trust me, this works soooo much better! I will have a picture for you of all my blocks in an upcoming post. Someday maybe, there will be a finished quilt top. That is the hope, at least.

I had such good intentions when I started this sew-along *five!* years ago; I always do. The brief history is that I soon realized that my FQ pack would never be adequate for all the blocks, so I spent a good while trying to figure out how to proceed. Eventually, I did find additional era-appropriate fabric to add to the collection, but by that time I had moved on to a gazillion newer projects. The early effort has been collecting dust ever since.

The original FQ pack.

I hope you are having a productive spring day! It's a beaut here today; sunshine and afternoon high in the 70s - perfection!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Ahhh, at last we find ourselves in an agreeable spot for some slow stitching. Two weeks ago, we were sick-sick-sick, and last Sunday we were busy hosting the family Easter bash. So having a slow Sunday today is especially welcome.

Of course, my go-to hand stitching project of late has been these hexie flowers. So lovely in their simplicity. What a cheerful garden I am growing!

The more I make of these hexies, the faster the stitching has become. As a beginner, I felt slow and awkward when constructing these flowers. Now, I can whip out 2-3 each evening, if I stay focused. And if I have some basting already done. These are easy to do while watching baseball, or a movie that doesn't require total concentration. Stitching hexies is the perfect TV time activity.

I am joining in on the fun over at Kathy's Quilts and the stitchers at the Slow Sunday Stitching party. How about going over to have a look around?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Productivity at Retreat

I shared yesterday the blocks I had made at retreat while certain other campers had made entire quilt tops. Let's just have a look at some of those today.

Jan always seems to be our most prolific finisher of projects. For one, she is to be commended on having all her projects cut and ready to sew. However, she also brings precut kits and faster projects like those 3-yard quilts many of us made last year.

A Stack n' Whack quilt - this was a kit.

A 3-yard quilt.

Another 3-yard quilt.

Since these were finished, Jan has made two more quilt tops; I will share them later in the week.

Susan has also been busy with some finishes, although hers are of a much more complicated business. 

A beautiful baby quilt for her granddaughter, Parker.

This is just the sweetest quilt. Let me show you a close-up of the fabrics - they are perfection.

The other complicated quilt she's finished is a sweet bunny quilt. Remember the one Jan shared at Frankfort Girls' last week? This is the same pattern.

Susan is actually working on a second bunny quilt for her granddaughter. Here's one bunny for that quilt.

Then we have Sheryll, who finished this adorable little table topper that has all sorts of appeal, as far as I'm concerned! I may be borrowing this pattern, for sure!

Terry is here and she has definitely been working, but as yet I have no pictures of her projects to share. I have seen quite a few pretty fabrics and at least one basket block on her work table, so I am sure the resulting quilts will be eye-popping.

I expect there will be more from retreat to share before the week is out; be sure to come on back to check things out!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilt Retreat

Sometimes it feels as though life is a series of events we tend to one right after another, you know? It has seemed that way to me for most of this year. Florida x 2. Cate. Appointments. Adam home to visit. Easter. Retreat. So far, 2023 has been a whirlwind.

Easter dinner was a huge success. We had 27 here for a noon feast, and the weather cooperated so beautifully. The sunshine was definitely a welcome sight! Here are a few pictures to capture the day.

My mom holding our sweet Cate, her great-granddaughter.

DH, Grampa Kevin, enjoying the backyard with Cate.

Nephew Will and his very concerned son Archie, wondering about this other baby on his Daddy's lap.

Uncle Adam met his niece on Easter!

No sooner had we cleaned up the kitchen and all the leftovers, than I began packing for quilt retreat. Yes, I'm here in Nelsonville this week with some fun quilting friends. And gosh are we getting stuff done! 

I brought UFOs with me. I did not have time to prepare (cut) a new project, and these UFOs have been niggling at me for long enough. It's now or never, I guess! My first efforts have been on Blockheads 2. Here are several early blocks made on Monday and Tuesday.

Block # 3; 6" square. It looks wonky, but trust me, it's okay.

Block # 5. This one is 24" square.

Block # 10; 12" square.

Block # 2; 6' square.

Block # 6; 12" square.

I feel like I am plodding along. Doing one block at a time is so very slow. Some of the other girls here are making entire quilts in the time I get a couple of blocks made. That is discouraging, but I also know that sampler quilts are fussier in their construction. This may have had something to do with my having this UFO from 2018!

Hope you are having a wonderful day that includes some bit of time for stitching!

Happy Quilting, Friends!