A Floral Explosion

I intimated very recently that borders are like cryptonite to me. I really balk or stall out on adding them, and more often than not lately, I am leaving them off all together.

So today I basically made a liar out of myself.

Here's what I did. I added not just one border but 4 borders to a little quilt I made back in September.

Geesh.

 At the retreat in Nelsonville, I used 3" squares made from an entire layer cake to make this lap quilt. At the time, I considered it finished, and was totally pleased with it. I knew it would be a small quilt, measuring 45"x53", but I didn't mind. I would use it somehow, somewhere.

Well, earlier this month, I came across two similar floral prints in my stash that had no specific project assigned to them. Hmmm...maybe I would add borders to this little quilt, after all.

Laid out here next to the quilt, I liked the way these blend together so well. I had an idea that I would do a small off-white border between them and the quilt, and I would greatly increase the size by doing so.

I have increased a 45"x53" lap quilt to a whopping 67"x75". Mercy! To be sure, I was questioning myself as I added that final blue border - golly, what a lot of measuring and cutting and pinning. But now that it's done, I am glad I did it. The quilt is so much more appealing having the framing of the borders to set off  the center.

I still have no fondness for borders, but I definitely know that some quilts are better when they have them. Instead of being so eager to be finished and move on to the next quilt, I need to to what all quilters tell us -  enjoy the process! I do. Most of the time.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Bridal Quilt Progress

For awhile mid-month, it felt like I had a bazillion PHDs (Projects Half Done) staring at me and, of course, I couldn't make myself work on any of them. I get that way, sometimes. It's as if the volume of finishing tasks paralyzes me, rendering me unable to engage with any project and finish it.

Throw in a long arm machine that begins to act up, an uncooperative computer, and the normal assorted family events  - well, I was fairly inert for several days.

One of the PHDs I really needed to knock out was the bridal quilt we Frienzies are making for Susan's daughter Kenly. We sewed the parts at the end of September, and then I volunteered for the task of sewing all the long strips (shown below) together to complete the quilt top.

Finally, I have completed this task. I really dragged my feet, but it was so easy and straightforward. The fact that it is a king-size quilt top might have played a part in my reluctance to finish this off - all that bulk! Kings are really hard to handle just because of the mass of fabric one must manage.

Neither of these pictures adequately shows a pretty quilt and that is because of the enormous size. Making matters worse is that a good bit of trimming needs to be done off the sides. I really have no place large enough - or well lit enough - to take a decent picture. You'll just have to trust me that it really is a pretty quilt, in a very subtle, monochromatic way.

I now need to hand this off to one of the other Frienzies who will take care of the next stage of finishing - professional long arming. Going into the Christmas holidays, I doubt this is the most optimal time for us, but oh well.

I have been knocking out a few other PHDs - borders for Autumn Leaves; the growth chart for Cate; quilting and binding Alpine; Hettie's baby quilt - just to name a few. I was also making a little smock for Cate and starting another baby quilt for a friend of daughter Emma.

Maybe now I am back on track. I sewed a good bit on the newest baby quilt yesterday, and this week I hope to long arm a couple of quilts. 

And, best news of all - I've solved my computer woes! With the help of several readers and other bloggers who were having similar problems, I am once again fully functioning!

Hope you all have a productive week!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Borders On!

On Wednesday, Sharon came to sew, and I knew exactly what I needed to get done. In my very best procrastinating way, I had delayed - in a very big way - attaching the borders on Autumn Leaves.

I finished the center part of this quilt clear back on September 23. For over a month it has been folded on my cutting table awaiting borders. And I'd even cut the white inner border. Geesh. Talk about procrastination. Borders have never been the most fun part of the quilting process, in my opinion. For whatever reason, I often stall out on all the measuring, cutting and attaching of borders. Ugh.

At some point, though, the quilt has to be finished, the table has to be cleared and loose ends have to be tied up. That day came last Wednesday when Sharon was here to sew. Maybe I focus better when Sharon is here? I don't know. Whatever, I knew that the ultimate goal was to finish Autumn Leaves, by gosh.

I'd determined long ago that I would use this Kansas Troubles fabric for the outer border. It was in my stash and I had no project lined up for its use. Turns out it was just right.

Side Note: I think in the new year (already with '24 goals???) I will keep track of how much stash fabric I use. I mean, that IS the goal, after all. It might even spur me to use more if I know I'm keeping track.

This quilt pleases me in every possible way. I have wanted a fall leaves quilt for simply ages, and now I have one. Yay! It has a spot very high on the longarm list and may just find itself quilted by the end of the week.

In old business, here's an update on my recent computer woes. I have had several helpful suggestions from readers, and today I will attempt to address them. I am very hopeful that I will solve at least some of my issues.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Cookie Troubles

I've been experiencing some difficulties with technology here in the last few days which accounts for my long absence from posting here. In an effort to fix things, I am appealing to you readers who know anything about cookies and Blogspot/Blogger and settings - especially for Google. I have tried many combinations of fixes, and have even taken my laptop to a tech guy - still no fix.

What I am able to do - for now - is to load my pictures onto a draft from my phone; then come back to my laptop to type text and move photos around.

In these intervening days, difficulties also occurred with my longarm machine. I'd been having such good success with it while doing my own quilts, so when my Frienzie Hettie called to ask me for a quick job on a baby quilt, I agreed to do it. She was about to get a 3rd grandbaby, coming earlier than expected per OB doctor's orders, so the rush was on!

I got along reasonably well until I neared the bottom third of the quilt. Then stitches began skipping and the upper thread began breaking. I removed a lot of quilting stitches while I thought through what my next step ought to be.

In the picture below, my seam ripper is pointing to an area where stitches have skipped. You can see that the needle did go through the fabric, but the bobbin thread did not catch. I tried all the usual tricks, but it soon became evident that my timing was off. 

I have fixed timing before, and while quilters make it sound complicated, it really isn't. I've watched a particular YouTube video about 100 times, and know the basics of what I need to do. I just had to be in the right frame of mind and have good morning sunlight to aid my bright lights - the machine's inner workings are hard for old eyes to see in dim lighting.

While I was fixing things, I took some time to adjust the upper tension; before long I was removing the quilt from the frame. Yay! Hettie also asked me to make and attach the binding; once that was done, Hettie picked up her quilt for an evening of tacking down binding.

The backing and much of the front of this quilt is batik fabric. I know lots of longarmers don't care for quilting on batik, but I'd done it before and never had had any troubles. Even now, I don't know if that contributed in any way to my issues. I may never know, but I do know that with each setback I learn new things and grow more confident.

Meet Ezra Meeker, all 5 pounds, 10.5 ounces of  him! He was born Friday, October 20, and measured 17.75 inches long. He doesn't take up much space on his new quilt! Hettie snapped this for me to post here. Won't it be fun to watch as he grows and fills out this quilt!? 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Growth Chart Delivered

Checking things off a list remains one of my all-time most satisfying feats, and this past weekend I checked a huge item off my list of UFOs (UnFinished Objects). The growth chart I quilted and bound for our granddaughter has been handed back to Erin, who started the project. As Cate was getting ever closer to standing without assistance, she knew she'd need help finishing it in time, so Mom was called to action. And you know I was glad to oblige.

Approved by Baby Cate.

Approved by Cate's mama, Erin.

The colors are so muted that the entire chart barely show up in pictures. It is over 6 feet long and will be hung so that accurate measurements can be marked. 

This somewhat closer view shows at least the binding which which nicely frames the chart. Below are a couple of pics from when I was stitching  the binding last week.

 

The kids were here Saturday and Sunday for Erin's class reunion on Saturday night. We were thrilled to babysit and loved doing the whole bedtime routine. Cate is an easy baby - she barely whimpers when going down for the night. Of course that is aided by having a full tummy and having been absolutely worn out from a day's worth of activities at Grandma and Grandpa's house - different toys, different spaces both indoors and out, and so much more. 

Moving on to the next UFO, I must sew the quilt top we Frienzies worked on a couple of weeks ago. We are getting together tomorrow for lunch, and I would love to hand this off to whoever is going to take to into completion.

I'll end with one more picture of Cate. She's always the star of show. Just two weeks shy of her first birthday, she has six teeth, eats a wide variety of big-girl food, and began walking about a week ago. She gets around pretty handily already. It took all four adults in the house to keep her corralled.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

PS: I will link with the slow Sunday stitching crowd over at Kathy's Quilts.

Miracle Color Catcher

For just about the entire summer, I have had two quilts draped over some furniture in the screened porch for just a bit of lively color. Both are quilts I quilted this summer, and both are blue Kaffe Fassett quilts. So, yes, lively color is a given. 

One quilt was Economy Blue, shown in part here with its polka-dot backing. I made the top in 2011 and quilted it in June.

The other quilt is my Cobalt Stars which has the same backing fabric as the first. I made this quilt top in 2021 and quilted it in June. 

So, as I said, these two quilts have resided on the screened porch since mid-June. Now that I am thinking of closing up the porch and preparing it for fall and winter, I needed to wash these two quilts. I didn't dare store them away with the probable chance of stink bugs and spiders residing in their folds.

Off to the washing machine! I am eternally grateful for whatever little voice whispered in my ear just before shutting the lid. "Use a color catcher," it said. Neither of the quilts had been washed, and while I don't often worry about blues running color in the wash, I thought there was just enough white on Cobalt Stars that I didn't want to take any chances.

And I am so glad I did! I do not have a clue as to the science behind the way these little things work, but how grateful I am that they do!

Look at the blue captured by the color catcher! I am blown away. What a lucky girl I am that I thought to do this. I would hate to think how blue the crisp white would be on Cobalt Stars. It probably would still be pretty - I mean, blue, right? - but I used a white background on purpose. 

Now I've got two freshly laundered quilts perfectly squishy and cuddly with their colors in tact. Thank goodness for little blessing!

That's all for today, Peeps. 

Guess what!??! Cate is coming tomorrow!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilting Two Ways

In the last 24 hours I have hand quilted and machine quilted. I want to do more on each, but I need to focus on the one with the deadline. 

Cate's growth chart is nearly finished, and I needed to consult with my daughter on how far above and below the ending numbers she wanted me to quilt. I will add two or three more rows of quilting on each end. Then it is ready to be bound and finished. Just in time to hand it off to them when they visit this weekend.

Obviously, this is where I need to shift my focus, and I would love to have this done and checked off my list.  So, yes, this comes first.

Remember, though, the quilt I loaded onto the longarm machine yesterday? I have made one pass along the quilt using a tighter or more dense free-motion design than I normally do. I like it! I am super stoked to continue this design - not only are the meandering stitches more dense with less of the quilt's surface remaining unquilted, but the curves and undulations are lots smaller than most of the quilting I've done to date. It's good practice for me. I hope that when I get back to it I can replicate the quilting I've already done.

Extending myself by trying different styles of free-motion designs is easier to do when the quilt is smaller. This quilt is in the twin or maybe even lap quilt range, so I thought it seemed logical to try a new style. It's far from perfect, but I am definitely feeling more and more confident with each quilt.

Hope you are having a wonderful Thursday! It's sort of a perfect fall day around here - it's gorgeous!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Long Arm Goals

NOTE: Since I didn't provide any quilt pictures yesterday, I have gone overboard today.

Here is the current quilt on the long arm machine - Alpine, which I made a few months ago - June, maybe. It is not large at 58"x64" and should quilt up really fast. In fact, I may try to do it later today.

If it seems like I am getting more long arm quilting done, here's the reason.  In January, I always make a yearly goals list, sort of in the same vein as a new year's resolution list. This is the first year, however, that I made two classifications of lists - one for piecing quilts and one for quilting quilts.

The quilting quilts side of the list was very brief with just three items.

        1. Quilt every new quilt as I make it. 

        2. Quilt 2 quilts per month from the older quilts in the closet. 

        3. Move handles to the back of the machine to try pantographs.

Frankly, until just a few weeks ago, I'd forgotten that I had set these goals, so not surprisingly, I am woefully behind schedule. I don't honestly think I will get anywhere close on #2, so I won't even stress about that. I have done a few, and I am thrilled with those accomplishments.

Here are the ones done from the closet, i.e. the #2 goal.

Cobalt Stars

Economy Blue

Snowflakes at Dusk

 

Dusty Trails

Four quilts according to the goal I set means I was on pace for 2 months. I could quilt like crazy from now to the end of the year, and maybe I could do it, but who needs that kind of pressure? A goal (likely) unmet is not the end of the world.

Next, let's get up to speed on the #3 goal - trying the pantographs. I am totally willing (and eager!) to do this, and even began one day not long ago. However, I soon learned that my laser light isn't working and I couldn't see moving along any further until I got that fixed or replaced. I have done some online searching today and discovered that I likely have a light which is battery operated. In other words, this is probably a quick fix. If so, I will definitely move forward here.

Finally, the #1 goal - quilt every new quilt I make this year. Now believe it or not, while I am nowhere near to being caught up with this goal, it will be loads less effort to get caught up because I've made fewer quilts. I might normally bemoan this fact, but in light of quilting them, fewer quilts is perhaps a good thing.

I have both pieced and quilted these quilts this year. Not a lot, but hey, they're done!

Red 9-Patch Scrappy

Henry Ludwig Baby Quilt

Jelly Filled

If I try to accomplish the goal of quilting all tops pieced this year, assuming Alpine will be done, only 7 more need to be quilted. (Autumn Leaves, Layer Cake Flowers, Posies and Polka Dots, Buffalo Check, Baby Girl Shoemaker Quilt. William Morris Economy, and Floral Diamonds)

Gosh, I believe it's possible. Wouldn't that be something?

So, I march along here on the 11th day of October (already!), attempting to achieve some goals while continuing to enjoy every aspect of this quilting journey.

Happy Quilting, Friends!