Introducing Lucy!

With a good stretch of sewing time on Thursday and Saturday, I am finished with the Lucy quilt top. She is a looker, for sure. Those wild and rollicking drifts of spring blooms really give this quilt life. 

It is hard to discern the color of the background fabric in these pictures, but it is light blue, not white or cream. All the snowballs are the same solid light blue. The border background is a tiny print of bright blue on creamy white. Here are some close-ups of the two fabrics alongside the florals.

 

The color in this photo still does not show the true blue of the fabrics. Oh well, you will just have to trust me on this; the light blue solid is perfect with these sweet floral prints.

Draped over the ironing board for its first full pressing, the depth of all those prints shows up pretty well. (And maybe the background looks sorta' blue?) The prints with the dark backgrounds are like shadows in a garden. Alongside the prints with light or white backgrounds, it's as if we are strolling through a cutting garden with the most colorful variety of blooms. 

 

I have not given any thought to what I will use as backing fabric on this quilt, but I do know that I will use one of these florals for the binding. I have two that were not fat quarters, and either of those will provide ample yardage for a binding. 

What a fun project to start the year. Sharon is working on her version of Lucy, and I will continue to bring you updates on her progress. She keeps apologizing for being slow, but don't we all know that there is no race? Enjoy the making; regardless of how long we take to finish a project, we must enjoy the making.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Snowball Progress

In the last post I promised some pictures of Sharon's progress on Lucy, but the weather was so dreadful that we postponed our sewing day until Thursday. So we shall wait on her highlights.

Instead, we will take a quick peek at my snowball blocks for the Lucy quilt.

I have a few cut, pressed, and stacked in groups of 10. When I attached all those little squares, I was very mindful of using a scant quarter-inch seam. It appears that this was a perfect plan, as these are pressing out very consistently to the correct size - 6.75 inches.

Some of you might be disappointed in me, but I am NOT saving those cut-away triangles. Too small. I have no desire to make or own a little quilt with these, so out they go. It will be quite a stack of bits, won't it? This is just from a fraction of the 60 blocks I will be cutting.

I finished an audiobook yesterday - Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane. I enjoyed it quite a bit, although there were troubling aspects of it. It delves rather deeply into the notion of how we perceive people and how their lives really are behind the doors of their homes. The main characters, Kate and Peter, are quite likeable, which kept me interested. I would recommend the book, but with the caveat that it gets pretty heavy at times. We humans can make great messes of our lives, and our kids' lives, but we can survive more than we think, and be all the better for it.

Okay, I'm off to sew the last of the snowballs (I miscounted yesterday; go figure), and then cut and press them all. That is today's sewing goal.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

January's Highlights

 Before I get too wrapped up in all the projects on the horizon for February, I will take a quick look back at January in the monthly collage of highlights. Pulling these pics together into a collage makes it easy to see that the month was productive and somewhat interesting. To me, at least. *ha!*

Lots of quilt pictures for January. The top row shows the flimsy I finished early in the month made with the Churn Dash blocks that we Frankfort Girls exchanged in December. The next two blocks represent a quilt I will be making in the very near future called Falling Stars. I saw it pictured somewhere, searched cyberspace for the name of the pattern, made up my own measurements and will continue after my current project is wrapped up.

The middle row begins with my cleaned off cutting table, an accomplishment that is nothing short of amazing, if you ask me. This space had been cluttered with mounds of old projects, shopping hauls, and all manner of stuff needing to be put away. Tackling that to start off the new year is HUGE! The middle photo is my gift to my dear friend Sharon O., the giver of long-arms. I referred to it as the Thirties Sampler as I was making it, but all along it was intended to be for her. The last picture is Lucy, the current project. Those were early blocks made to see how it would look when coming together. I am now at the snowball block phase of construction.

In the bottom row I begin with a major job which occurred in our driveway - culvert replacement. Wow, what a job. The old culvert had deteriorated to the point that we had a sinkhole which threatened to give way completely with the next major rain storm. This replacement was finished last Tuesday, and we have had rain and snow since; timely, for sure. The bottom middle picture is the 10-year project called Lake Effect. I leave it for weeks/months, and then return to it. I am back at it, attempting to finish off those appliqued panels. 

The final picture in the bottom row is a strange-looking picture, for sure. This is located about 12 miles south of us near Bainbridge, OH. These trees have giant cranes' nests in them. It is an incredibly curious sight. We drove slowly to observe them, and eventually stopped and got out of the car to get closer. The trees are on the far side of the creek and the cranes were plentiful in and around the creek area. I was fascinated by those nests - there must have been 40 or more of them. I had no idea that such wildlife resided so near.

I am a poor photographer of beautiful nature scenes, but it's not for a lack of trying! I only had my iPhone to work with, and I did the best I could. I'd love to have had a nice telephoto lens on an equally  nice digital camera. Those nests would really show up with the proper equipment.

In sewing news, the Lucy pattern calls for 24 half-snowball blocks, so I made those yesterday. Today, Sharon P. will be here to sew, and I plan to make some, if not all, the 60 full snowballs needed for this quilt. The little squares are all marked, and the stitching should go quickly.

I plan to take some pictures of Sharon's progress on the same pattern using French General fabrics. Totally different look, for sure.

Happy Sewing, Friends!

 

Goodbye, January

 Already, one-twelfth of the new year is in the books. Blinking, it seems, wipes out a month. 

In my search for an appropriate image, I found the one above of Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts gang. Perfect, since the quilt I am working on to close out January is called Lucy. In the description provided by pattern author Carrie Nelson, we know that the Lucy to which she is referring is Lucy Ricardo of I Love Lucy fame, but we can be flexible here, I think.

We are having a 'weather event' here today - snowed overnight, raining today, and returning to snow tonight. I believe I heard that there will be some accumulation in the morning, but we are likely on the fringe of the serious stuff, so I am not too concerned. I am perfectly content to hibernate here in my cozy house with a Slow Sunday project on my lap. It isn't stitching, but it is handwork, nonetheless. I am drawing diagonal lines on 276 (+/-) squares for the next phase of my Lucy construction - 60 snowball blocks and 44 half-snowball blocks.

I have my little box of squares ready for action. I plan to work on this task while we watch the OSU men play today. I have earbuds nearby on the chance that we finish the game before I finish the squares. I will go back to my current audiobook, if that happens.

To cut all those 1.75-inch squares, I stacked strips and lined them up carefully so that I could cut lots at a time.

Worked like a charm!

I have a few snowballs made. The corners will be randomly placed; no plan for making any tough decisions here.

I will link with Kathy's Quilts again this Sunday for her weekly Slow Sunday Stitching party. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Lucy Progress

Completely surprised that I am so quickly reporting on my Lucy progress. I feared that making those 25-patch blocks - 61 of them! - would take me forever, yet I find that I am finished with them  - did the last of them on Wednesday morning. Another surprise: I had cut enough units to make 80 blocks. So I did.

Just how satisfying is this!? Quite. I not only have this first part of the blocks made, but I've kept my cutting table cleaned off, too! Yay!

These blocks simply needed a system for construction, and I came up with one. It's amazing what one can accomplish when one is organized. *wink*

First, I had all my sub-cut units lined up on one side of the table, at the top of my main working area.

I pulled five sub-cut units at random and placed them together for what would become a block. I rearranged when like colors touched or a single fabric was too frequent. If I found myself becoming too OCD about a block, I reigned that in by remembering that this is a big quilt, and so what if a couple of fabrics show up close together? It won't matter. So, no obsessing!

 

I prepared about 5 or 10 blocks in this way and then stacked them in order on a portable flat surface (the lid of a storage tub) and took them to the sewing machine. In the picture below, I have 5 blocks stacked for sewing.

The only variation from the pattern worth noting is with regard to pressing seams. The pattern uses definite lights and darks for these blocks, so pressing to the dark makes sense. Since my blocks are so random, I could not guarantee how the seams would work out. A sub-unit could be turned to go either way. So I pressed in one direction, and cut the sub-units; then if I needed a small unit to have the seam going the other direction, I just used my little iron and wool mat (which is next to the machine) and pressed it to work.

Yes, I could have pressed seams open, but I didn't want to take the time to do that. My method was great for nesting seams. If I were to make more blocks like this for another quilt, I would do it the same way.

And above is my stack of completed blocks. I am ready for snowball making. Yay!

Let me show you one block that somehow ended up with an extra row - I was not paying attention to my system. Instead, I was gabbing a bit too much when Sharon was here for sewing. *wink*

Yesterday, instead of working on Lucy, I finally attacked that overflowing tub of red fabrics that I've had sitting in the hallway. This task lead me to all sorts of dreaming of quilts to make, and I actually pulled a grouping that pleases me. It is entirely possible that an impromptu quilt is on the horizon. (who needs yearly goals??!)

Happy Quilting, Friends!

New Year, New Projects

 You know how I am by now - I greet a new year with a plethora of projects I am chomping at the bit to start. This January is no different from any of the previous ten or twelve.

Sharon and I have made a habit of starting the last few years with a common project. In 2017, it was 'Elizabeth,' a pattern by Carrie Nelson. In 2018, we did our own invented pattern that we called 'Snow Shoo.' Maybe we have done others together, but those are the most recent.

This year the quilt we are making is 'Lucy' another Carrie Nelson pattern. You can find it in her book Farmhouse Favorites - the very last quilt in the book, if I'm not mistaken. 

Sharon helped me pull my floral fabrics for this quilt a couple of months ago when we were deciding to make it. I am so pleased with this grouping.

Some of these fabrics were purchased this past summer on a vacation stop in Sisters, Oregon. Some were bought in some shopping in DH's hometown of Coshocton. The bigger yardage piece, which is a very light blue, was an online purchase I made a few years ago. Pulling this grouping together seems like it was totally planned; instead, what we have here is a happy accident.

I took quite a few pictures of the selvages, not just for those who might be interested, but for me in case I ever need or want to look for more of any of these. Aren't they pretty?

I have worked on this quilt for a week now, and I am still excited about it. I plan to make all 61 of the 25-patch blocks before making the snowball blocks. That will take awhile. I currently have close to 20 finished. I found that I really, really wanted to see how they looked with the snowball blocks, so I made about 6 of those just to squelch my curiosity. It's gonna' be okay - just have a look:

Wont it be wonderful?!! I will now go back to making those 25-patches and get all 61 of them finished. It will become tedious and I will become impatient, but there will be no more snowballs until the 25-patches are finished. Promise.

Sharon's 'Lucy' will look totally different. In true Sharon fashion, she is making hers of red and white - a variety of French General fabrics. Gorgeous. Yes.

Sharon cut her strips today and is ready to sew. Her neutral will be light beige and cream with the corners of red. Before snowballs though, she, like me, is now about to face some intense piecing time. Soldier on! *grin* 

We all know this is fun, not work, right??

Since this post is getting long, I will wait and share my other new project next time. I think you will like it! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!