Pine Tree Progress

For the past couple of days I have been at a quilt retreat with the Frankfort Girls. I brought all the fabric and all the bits for my pine tree quilt to work on. I determined that I would spend at least a day on it and in that time I have made the following progress. Click here for some history and earlier work on the quilt.

First, I went ahead and cut all the 3-inch HSTs down to 2.5-inch HSTs. I didn't think I could stand to waste all that fabric, but in the long run, I knew I would be happier with the block made with those smaller triangles. I am glad I did it.

Then I made a sample block, which you see above. Quite the mix of green, isn't it? As a stand-alone block, it is not at all pretty. However, it is my hope that when I have 20 or 30 blocks, I will have a quilt that looks like a dense Rocky Mountain forest. We shall see if that proves true.

Here is the pile of trimmings taken off the HSTs. Not so awful. The final product will be worth it, I hope.

Back in June, I made this block, and while I like it a lot, I really wanted all green to mimic that density of the forests. I will now need to find something to do with this orphan block; it is far too pretty to be left unused. Click here to read about that initial trial block.

The other gals here at the retreat have been incredibly productive, and I have a wonderful little quilt parade all lined up to share with you tomorrow. You will definitely want to come back to check it out!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Pine Tree Quilt Begins

After exhaustive efforts in considering options for pine tree patterns, I have finally settled on one that I think I will like. I still hold out the option of changing my mind, but I did decide that I wanted one made with gazillions of half-square triangles. 

Because those could be made even if I do change the pattern, I have spent the last several days making about 200 HSTs. 

WHEW!

To provide some background, and to remind you regular readers of what I'm doing, this idea for a pine tree quilt came from being in the Rocky Mountains this past June. Looking out from one mountain across a valley and over to the ranges beyond, one gets the sense of the vast, dense forests that blanket the mountains. It is breathtakingly beautiful and it inspired me to try to preserve that incredible beauty in quilt form. 

I've yet to take picture that truly illustrates the vastness of the mountain-covered forests. Try as I might, the cell phone camera just can't do the job adequately.

When I study pictures that attempt to show the density of the forests, I notice that there are multiple shades of green. Sometimes, this is due to shadows; other times the tree varieties differ. Unless we were up in the highest elevations, we did not see snow. Most of the touring around we did would look a lot like the two photos shown above.

So, how to depict this in quilt form? 

The more modern options were appealing to me because they wouldn't require the tedium of endless HSTs. Here is a pattern I seriously considered.

(Google search)

However, I tend to prefer traditional patterns, and I could not give up the idea of a true, old-fashioned Tree Of Life pattern, like this one.

(Google search)

I like the traditional pattern better (for my purposes), but I knew I needed much more green.

Multiple fabric pulls later, I had a nice collection of greens from which to select. 

Also in the depths of the sewing room, I uncovered a roll of triangle papers to aid in accuracy. With so many HSTs required, I knew that this would eliminate issues with matching up points and seams.

Trouble is, I thought I was getting 2.5-inch unfinished triangles, and instead I have 3-inch unfinished triangles. Ugh. Rethinking...

Since I've got 'em all made and cut, I am not turning back. I will try making trees with larger triangles. I have yet to make a test block; I hope I will like it.

Currently I am still in the prepping stage. Cutting all the triangles out, then removing the paper, then pressing them open - it takes awhile. After that, I will proceed with adjusting the remaining block parts to fit these larger triangles.

I still have a lot to do. And I am happily looking forward to seeing how this will turn out. There will be lots of shades of green, brown trunks and even the background will be a different green, I think. I am considering what will suffice. This process is still in the creating stage. 

Is your internal body clock all confused this morning? Mine sure is. Time change always has me a bit 'off' for a day or two. I'll adjust, of course.

Have a great Sunday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

November Plans

It seems prudent this late in the year to check my progress on the original 2022 goals, so let's get into that straight away.

 1 - Teter baby quilt and 2- Baker baby quilt are both finished and gifted. 

3 - Red and White Double Irish Chain is a flimsy; I still think I will add borders, and then it awaits quilting. 

4 - Great Granny Square and 5 - Mini Trip Around the World - both are flimsies. 

6  - Temecula Baskets - flimsy.  

7 - Lake Effect - I am not working as diligently on this as I ought to be; I find too many other things to do rather than focus on this. But I have done some and for that I am happy.

8 - Ohio Star quilt is a flimsy; I could add a border; It would really enhance it, so we shall see. 

9 - This item was combined with #12, and I am thrilled with this flimsy. I will need a big, big piece of fabric for the backing. Yeah, I probably have some. *heh*

10 - I have done zero, zilch, nada on this goal. Shame on me!

11 - Ocean Ripples is a flimsy; I also found a wonderful piece of fabric for the backing, so...

12 - see item 9, above.

13 -  Sew Along - I totally scrapped this idea; it was a good idea, but time just didn't allow.

14 - Two quilts per month on long arm machine - believe it or not, I have quilted 20 quilts, so I am right on target. This surprises me, honestly. I will say that most of these quilts have been small and/or baby quilts. That makes for fast quilting. I think I will get this goal by year's end, for sure.

15. Numerous TBA quilts - oh, my goodness! I have been able to make so many fun quilts to fit into this category! Two 3-yard quilts; Autumn Green, Cottage Green, 4-Patch Delight; Rosy Stepping Stones; Small Rosy Stepping Stones; Copy Cat Kaffe Quilt; Pink Single Irish Chain; 2 baby boy quilts; Spring Double 9-Patch. 

 I've pictured a few of the quilts here in this post; but all of them can be viewed in the pages tab labeled '2022 Quilts.'

Now what will I do this month? I ought to devote some time to Lake Effect, and I ought to tackle at least one of those Block Heads QALs. I know for sure that I a going to work on a Pine Tree quilt, and possibly a Maple Leaf quilt. 

Then there's the quilting that need doing - the last baby boy quilt, the pink single Irish chain, and maybe Temecula Baskets? We shall see.

 It sure seems like I will be able to stay busy!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome November

It's been a whirlwind few days around here, let me tell you! As life settles down for we new grandparents, it seems a good idea to get back to some semblance of normal with regard to blogging. 

October 2022 was so extra special that you are gonna' get two collages for the month. One will be devoted to the normal monthly highlights, and one will be devoted to Catherine, the brand new member of our family. 

The nine pictures featured here are all from Cate's first 2-3 days of life. Babies don't stay super-tiny like this for long, so we are soaking up as much of it as possible.

TOP ROW: Aunt Emma met Cate on Sunday afternoon and appears to be totally thrilled with her new role; Cate asleep in her father's arms; Gramma Jayne holds Cate in the hospital.

MIDDLE ROW: Cate yawning; Cate's first pic on my phone; she's just 3 hours old and look at how alert she seems! And, a very precious pic of Cate gazing adoringly at her mother, and her mother returning the gaze right back at Cate. 

BOTTOM ROW: Dad Jeff holds his new daughter; Cate and her full head of dark hair; Grampa Kevin holds Cate in the hospital.

Yes, she is the best part of October, hands down. 

Now let's return to our regular programming - quilting and such. The collage for October contains a wide variety of fun and adventure.

TOP ROW: First up, a rerun from the first collage. Next, the enlarged snowball quilt that I've named Autumn Green. It was fun to make, and I fully expect that I will make more like this in the next few years. The last pic in the top row is Rocky Fork Lake in neighboring Highland County. We had a lovely evening on the lake with friends on one of the last pleasantly warm days.

MIDDLE ROW: A little grouping of gifts for Erin and Cate. A quilt, a onesie, and a stack of burp cloths all from Gramma Jayne. The center photo is of the copy cat quilt I made for Cate. The last photo features the new-to-me buffet for our dining room. We found it at a second-hand shop in Greenfield. It fills the space left open after we removed the piano which had sat in this spot for 25-30 years. 

BOTTOM ROW: I am glad to continue hand quilting on Fall Foliage. I got it out for History Day at the beginning of the month and I have stayed with it, quilting a bit each day - mostly in the evenings. I couldn't say farewell to October without giving a nod to the Guardians; what a fun season we had watching them surprise everyone except themselves. Next season will be so much fun; I'm already excited for it! Finally, we took a 5-day trip to Pennsylvania and New York to see fall color; from the Alleghenies to the Adirondacks, it was a goal successfully met.

Now, what will I work on in November? I have a few plans, and I will bring those to you in my next post. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Meet Catherine

She has arrived! I promise not to be an over-sharing type of grandmother, but I am happy to share this announcement and first picture. Born on Thursday, Catherine Alice Dillon arrived at 5:13pm, weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs., 15 oz. Both mom and baby are doing great and this new grandma is over-the-moon in love. Cate has a full head of black hair and is so very alert. In the photo she is not yet 3 hours old, and just look at how she gazes up at her mother in absolute wonderment.

 

DDErin and SILJeff are already fantastic parents to this precious one. They got home from the hospital this morning, and we will leave them to their little family for a few days. In the meantime, maybe I will try remembering how to sew and quilt.

Have a great Saturday! I bet there are a few Halloween parties tonight, so beware the ghosts and goblins! DH and I will go to our party dressed as grandparents. *heh-heh*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Reveal: Autumn Green

About a week ago, I thought I was finished with this snowball/9-patch quilt. In this post, I mention that I had a finish when it was 7 rows by 9 rows.

At the end of that post, though, I mention that since there were extra blocks I could see myself going ahead with making enough more to end up with a quilt that would be 8 rows by 10 rows. And I did that last week when Sharon was here to sew with me.

Once I got to that point, I still had some yardage remaining. Why stop? I definitely have no need to accumulate more scraps, so I cut enough pieces to make blocks for another row wide and another row long - 9x11, this time. Below, take a look this reveal: Autumn Green.

 

Yes,  I am definitely finished, as there is not enough fabric to add more rows. What little bit of fabric  remains will be cut into 2.5-inch strips or squares and go into the appropriate scrap tubs.

At 9 rows x11 rows, it measures 54" x 66" - a fine size for quilt.

At this point, I have no plans for quilting it because I don't have a fabric selected for backing. That could be solved rather quickly, I presume, by shopping the stash. I just have not take that next step yet.

Now, it is a finished flimsy and I am gearing up for some long-arming action. I have one loaded. It will have a flannel backing - I've not done a flannel on this long arm, so wish me luck!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Some Long-Arming Done

 We are still waiting on a baby over here, but my time hasn't been spent just twiddling my thumbs. In fact, If grannies can have "nesting" instincts, then maybe that explains my energy these past couple of days.

This quilt had been loaded onto the long arm machine for over a week while I fiddled and fussed with setting my tension. When I finally was satisfied with how both top and bottom looked, I took off and had this little pretty done up in no time. 

I made those blocks on a whim back in mid-September, and they ended up being laid out a bit differently that what you see above, but with only 9 blocks, it is basically the same.

You can see the sweet little daisy print that I selected for the backing. The centers of each flower really pick up the solids I used in the blocks. 

And the best part: all from existing stash!

I used the backing fabric as the binding, hand stitched that these past couple of days, and even added a label. It is ready to go meet its baby! 

You might want to click here to read up on when and why I made the blocks. It was total impulse, let me tell you. And, yes, I still seem to operate my best when great ideas and multiple starts are piling up all around me. 

I'll share some of the other seemingly "nesting" activities that have been going on around here in an upcoming post. For now,

Happy Quilting, Friends!