So, So Close

I have removed the 6-point star quilt from the quilt frame and have done just about all I can in the oval frame. The very outer edges, like 1-2 inches, are all that are left to be quilted. This is what is known as the home stretch, I do believe.

It has been a very long haul on this quilt and as I take these final stitches, I find myself thinking about the binding I will use. Just about anything will do, I suppose.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Catching Up With Sharon

A full week ago, Sharon was here to sew, and was so close to having the center portion of her Lorraine/Old Gold quilt finished that she came back on Wednesday morning to do just that.

So pardon me if I overload on pictures today, as opposed to words. This is one stunning quilt, and is worth a few extra pictures, for sure.

It wouldn't do at all to take just one photo from one angle. I really felt you all needed to see several different perspectives on this, don't you know. It's all in the interest of serving the viewing public. *grin*

The next decision for Sharon is how she will do borders. The pattern gives directions, of course, but I think Sharon's fabric options are limited, so she was going to spend this past week considering the next step. She will be here later this morning and I know she will have something wonderful figured out.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome August

Since yesterday's late night post was rather lengthy and somewhat depressing, I will make today's short and sweet. This is clip art that I found on Pinterest.

August looks to be starting off with some positive action. If all goes as planned I will have several finishes and some near-finishes to show you in the coming days. Hope you'll come on back and check up on me!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

July Concludes

My posting for the month of July has been erratic at best. Like most months, I begin with renewed focus and eager anticipation of what all can be accomplished in the new month. Some months end up being more productive than others; honestly, this is the normal ebb and flow nature of the quilter's work.

It's funny how so much of what we do requires a certain mindset - one that is positive; an all-systems-go sort of outlook. July 2016 found me having sad news to face, and it has been difficult to focus my attention on both quilting and blogging. Just to try to get July tucked away and move on to a happier August, I will share the sad news with you readers; not to garner sympathy, but more just to move on and adjust.

Early in the month I learned of the passing of Mary Harwood, the fun lady with the cute little barn (above) in Grove City who opened her doors for quilters a few times each month. Not only had I sewn at her place 4 or 5 times, she had come down to Frankfort to sew with us at Terry's on more than one occasion. Click here to read about my first trip to her barn.

In the photo above, Mary is showing off a quilt she was preparing to bind. This was taken on one of the trips to sew at her barn.

What a wonderful lady, and no truer friend could you find. While I did not know her as well as other quilters in my extended circle of friends - she was as genuine as could be. She announced back in January that she had been diagnosed with a particularly aggressive cancer and would be suspending her barn gatherings; soon she announced encouraging news that the diagnosis was not as dreadful as earlier suspected. Well, 6 months later, we learned of her passing. Apparently, it was aggressive, and many quilting friends were caught unawares. Here's a link to another blogger's tribute to Mary.

While digesting this news, our own family was dealing with a tragedy - the death of my Aunt Margaret - or Maggie, as she'd come to be called. Maggie is my mom's younger sister; the one who helped out so much during my grandmother's final months in 2015. After retiring in the spring of '15, helping with Grandma's affairs in the summer of '15, and moving with her husband, Uncle Nick, from Kansas back to Ohio in the fall of '15, Maggie began to have some mysterious health issues - mostly sleeplessness. The real alarms began this past May, when by the end of the month she was in the hospital and being tested for all sorts of neurological problems. The preliminary diagnosis was rapidly progressive dementia. Later, after some very specific test results, we learned a name for this disease - CJD, a terminal condition with no known treatment. She died on July 20.

This 2012 picture is possibly the most recent I have of Maggie - along with my mother and me. We were celebrating an OSU football victory at IU. Maggie was fun-loving; she quilted; she loved a party; she loved family. We are just so devastated by her sudden passing - from diagnosis to death was just 3 weeks.

Above is Maggie with her son, my cousin Sam at his wedding (1997), one of hundreds of pictures we enjoyed in a slide show at Maggie's memorial service yesterday. One of her very dear friends who came all the way from Wyoming made a few remarks and ended with this Native American prayer, which was particularly touching:

I give you this one thought to keep -
I am with you still - I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the sweet uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not think of me as gone -
I am with you still in each new dawn.

And now to my ambivalence about quilting and blogging.

My focusing issues have been exacerbated by troubleshooting how to quilt the big commission I need to be finishing. I've felt in a quandary for weeks now. Ugh!

I do think I have turned a corner, however. Elisa's quilt is beginning to come together more successfully, and an end is in sight. Above I have one of the sections in a prepping stage on the kitchen counter. I pressed the backing and stretched it out using painter's tape to keep it secure. I then pressed the top to the batting, and I used a lot of spray starch to give it some stiffness. Then I pinned the three layers together. I've been quilting and having some pretty decent success. (I will keep quiet about any "unsewing" I've done.)

Let's look forward to August, and see if I can get my mojo back!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

This Awaits

I go on and on quite a bit about gorgeous fabrics. Generally, the current quilt is the most beautiful ever. So I've gone from any of the French General fabrics to Roman Holiday to Kaffe Fassett and so on. My current love is Lorraine by American Jane/Moda and Lorraine's older complementary line, Savonnerie by the same designer.

I gaze at this lusciousness every day I'm in the sewing room, as it adorns my design wall. Some of the rows are sewn together, some are not. I think a bit of rearranging will occur before it all comes together, but what a feast for the eyes in the meantime!

Lorraine must wait in the wings until I finish 2 more urgent projects. First, I am machine quilting Elisa's quilt and having the most devilish time of it. I'd rather not admit to how much unsewing I've done lately. This coming week I will get it right!

PMA!!
Positive Mental Attitude!

The second is my hand quilting on the 6-point star quilt. I am so, so close to being finished. Mostly just the edges remain to be quilted; I am so anxious to remove it from the frame do the binding.

Have a great Sunday, folks, and stay cool, if you can!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hexagon Variety

In the last post, I shared a picture of the the little hexie quilt - likely a table topper - that I worked on at Jan's last Friday.

It was wrinkly and unkempt-looking, from being toted about in a bag and scrunched up in the stitching process. When I had a chance back at home, I took it to the sewing room and gave it a good pressing. Improved the looks tremendously.

I also discovered that I needed just one more hexie block to have a finished quilt top.

My options were limited. When I cut out all these hexagons, I had no plan in mind; rather, I was simply interested in having some handwork to do when I met with these ladies. I scrounged around and found a bit of fabric from the original grouping and cut one more hexagon for the space. If you look closely, you will see a bit of selvage on one corner; I really was out of fabric.

So now this is sewn in and the little quilt top awaits its batting and backing, its quilting and binding. In due time; in due time. It might see the center of the porch table next year.

One of the reasons I was so limited in my options for this quilt, is because I went off on a bit of a tangent and made these:

The three large flowers are made with the same blocks as I used in my table topper. I was curious about how they'd look set together this way, so I gave it a go. I really like them.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with them next. I haven't a clue at this time. That's why those smaller red flowers are still on the design wall; I made those way back in March, and they don't yet know what they are going to become, either. Same goes for the POTC block down at the bottom. Suggestions, anyone? Leave a comment, if so.

If making a hexie quilt - large or small - is something you think you'd like to try, I invite you to take a look at this post which offers a bit of a tutorial.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Frankfort Girls

Last Friday we met at Jan's for sewing and fellowship. All were present with the exception of Terry, whose husband was recovering from recent knee-replacement surgery. We had a productive morning, so let's take a look at the various projects we were working on.

Our hostess Jan had a finish to share. She makes Crown Royal bags into quilts. Jan and her husband own a golf course; they serve Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey at the clubhouse. (I could spread rumors and tell you that Jan has a drinking problem; I'm ornery, but not that ornery! *wink*)The fabric is flannel; she deconstructs the bags, cuts the squares, adds a second flannel fabric in a pleasing color, and comes up with a bundle of gorgeousness like you see above.

A variety of deconstructed Crown Royal bags.

 

A bag in its original state. Jan is deconstructing one in the background.

Sheryll was working on this rather ambitious applique quilt. Impressive, for sure. I always feel that these sorts of patterns are just more than I can handle, for some reason. They intimidate me. But it sure is gorgeous. Sheryll hopes to enter this into her guild's upcoming quilt show.

Above, JoAnn is completing the binding on her All In A Row quilt. Do you recall that we all made this quilt at the Canter's Cave retreat back in April? I had trouble with my outer border, but eventually got it all worked out. Both JoAnn and Sharon O. have theirs quilted and bound (or nearly bound).

Above is Sharon's version. She finished her binding while we were together and showed off her finish.

Makes me want to get mine quilted. Maybe soon.

I worked on finishing that hexie table topper - it started out as 2 small ones, but I decided they'd have more impact as one big one. It has been fun stitching.

After I had added quite a few hexies, I stopped to see my progress. The only good place to lay it out was on the floor by the table where we were working. Ha! Look at Jan's kitchen floor! Hexies! I posted this pic to both FB and IG with the caption 'hexies on hexies."

Now we are all caught up on the Frankfort girls!

Happy Quilting, Friends!