I finished the Starburst quilt yesterday. This has been one of “those” projects, a learning experience. It started with the not so well written pattern, which progressed into the Y-seam debacle. Then the quilting of it, the sizing and placement of each design in each block. The borders, and then turning the quilt to finish them. There may have been expletives uttered, but I worked through it. My big win came when binding it, I won at binding chicken, Yay!

This week I have a few small things to catch up on, three hats and three pillows. I need to get started on the custom quilts too. I am hopefully getting a second one Monday. I had an appointment all set up last week with this client, I had reserved the local library meeting room and had my appointment reminders set. Only the reminder was set for 1:00pm not 10:00am. I was happily giving my puppy a bath at that time and not paying attention to my phone. The sad thing is that the client had texted me to say she would be 15 minutes late, so I could have made it. Thankfully, she accepted my apology and rescheduled to her home and 11am. I guess thats my dues, driving a half an hour to meet. Hopefully she wants more than a simple end 2 end design, and will make it worth my time.

I will be traveling to Canada in two weeks, for a family gathering. I think it would be nice to get those projects underway and maybe out the door. Then I can start on the next project, the Jacqueline DeJonge quilt, Enchanting Stars. I have so many projects I had wanted to do this summer, but in a moment of weakness and cuteness overload, we adopted two puppies. One forgets how much work it is to raise and train a puppy, especially because it has been almost ten years since we have had one about and under foot. This morning I forgot to shut my sewing room, and one of them went in there and was having a tug of war with the iron cord. Luckily it was unplugged and the iron didn’t fall on them.

I have been stitching on the mermaid and the berries cross stitch pieces. The mermaid requires a bit more concentration, so I have been stitching on the berries before bed.

Be Kind.

I have been back from vacation for five days, and still haven’t turned my machine on. I have done a little bit more cross stitching and mended a hole in a sock. I have been putting away future projects that magically arrived while I was away for three weeks. I just couldn’t resist a bargain. I received a few new kits and a wholesale order with a roll of batting. A few new patterns, including the Mad Quilt Party from Art East Quilting Co. , two Elizabeth Hartman patterns and two others. I was shocked that the freight on my roll of batting and one bolt of fabric was 128.00. I am going to order it from Linda’s from now on, as they offer free shipping and with their sales it’s less than what I pay wholesale. BTW – how can that be???

I am really excited about this quilt, I want to make it for myself, with my own scrappy fabric choices. Who knows when I will, but getting the pattern is a step in the right direction. I also got a Log Cabin quilt kit from Modern Prairie. MP is a new to me online shop that is owned and run by Mellisa Gilbert of Little House on the Prairie fame. I saw the quilt kit on another blog, and went to check it out. it was quite affordable with a welcome discount and free shipping. The fabric line is so pretty, Evening on the Prairie, from Riley Blake. This is one for the shop.

I did start up the long arm yesterday and “remembered” how to use it. I got one border done, and need to finish this Starburst quilt this weekend. I have three custom quilts that are being dropped off next week. Two new customers and one repeat. It’s funny how I will go months without any custom quilts and then bang here’s three this week.

I also bought some P-leather to make a few handbags with. The product looks nice, sort of a pebbled look, I am wondering how it will wear with use. I have some ultra suede around here somewhere too. I am also thinking of combining it with some printed cork fabric I have. I got a cute round bag pattern from Sallie Tomato called Gwen. It reminds me of the old style canteens from the 1900’s. I might need some hardware, maybe a matching zipper. Lastly, I need to make two more cushions for a fireplace hearth. I ordered the fabric and zips for those, they should be here next week. I did put a few stitches into the Mermaid x-stitch, but the Berries project I took with me didn’t get much sewn on it. So I have lots to do, and lots to use up. Time to knuckle down and do some sewing.

Be Kind.

I didn’t do much for April fools day, saw a few cute “jokes”, but it’s been an uneventful first week of April. Just stitching away on the mermaid and the Starburst quilt. I also finished the Swedish Postcard look-a-like top. It is similar, but slightly different, as my color choices were influenced by what I had in my stash. I am proud to say that no new fabric was purchased for this quilt top.

The mermaid cross stitch is really starting to come together, there is an actual tail fin depicted now. I am having mixed feelings about the metallic threads. In the upper section I used one strand, and on the tail I used two strands. I like that the color shows a bit more in the two strands, but it looks a bit bulky. It is a bit difficult to stitch with two strands, and get it to lay evenly. I am leaning towards clipping the double threads out and replacing with singles. It still gives a bit of sparkle, but not as textured.

The Starburst quilt is a a lesson in repetitions. Each block has to be measured, and then the design has to be sized to fit. About ten steps for each diamond, there are thirty two, and there are thirty two squares. I will have to turn this quilt to do the borders on the sides. All in all it is considered a semi-custom, the next one will be an E2E – and a simple one at that.

Funny thing, yesterday we got an invitation to another baby shower. Very good friends of ours are going to become grandparents of twin boys in August. The shower is April 20th, in Syracuse NY. My husband jokingly asked if I was going to make them quilts and send them in time. Ha ha, no, not this time. We sent something from the registry, ultimately Amazon. I’ll get started on the twin quilts soon.

I am going away for a few weeks this Saturday. Kinda looking forward to closing the shop for a bit and not being with my machines. Hoping to come back ready to sew. I need to get a few things together to work on while on the planes and in my free time. I have a few small cross stitch patterns that I got recently. If I use Aida cloth, I don’t need my magnifier, and can get by with readers. I should bring the appliqué blocks for the Message in a Bottle quilt. They are prepped and small enough to tuck into a carryon. Just need a spool of thread and a small thread clipper, I can get a few done on the four hour flight. Which reminds me, a need a few good books too.

Be Kind.

This past week has been one of lots of sewing, and lots of ripping. I managed to finish the Starburst top and get it ironed. It is neatly folded and waiting for its turn on the long arm. I received the ordered backing for it too. I had it relaxing on the frame for its pinning on, but had to refold it due to a different quilt that needed quilting asap.

After finishing the Starburst top I really needed a palette cleanser, something with right angles and straight seams. I remembered I had one more Peter rabbit panel that I had bought to finish up all the scraps from the other PR quilts I finished last year. The panel arrived with a slit cut into the side of it. I couldn’t return it or complain because I couldn’t remember who I bought it from, or exactly when. I figured I had to cut it anyway and I could add another border. After carefully measuring and centering the panel I added two off white strips and started sewing the rest of the quilt top together. The blocks are 5 inch squares, and four carrots and six radishes. The veggie blocks were made using the folded corner technique and used solid colored scraps. Flash back to Awesome Ocean quilts. Those blocks took a few hours to make, especially the radish tops. The squares went together easily enough. It came time to put everything together and it didn’t work. My additional borders were too small. After much ripping and remeasuring I adjusted them and found that they were too large. More ripping and resewing ensued, for a total of four times – exasperating. This was supposed to be my easy no brainer project, I actually had to put it down and leave the room for a few hours. I did finish it the next day.

Once again I found I was in need of something simple to make. While sorting through my solids scraps and pieces (for the veggies) I realized I had enough colors to make a Postcards from Sweden quilt. I printed out the pattern and the colors needed and made up some stick on labels. I found each color, or its equivalent, cut the squares and labeled them. There are 36 colors of squares and I have them all ready to go. Also I neatened up my solid stash a bit, it now all fits in the bin. Then the squirrels popped up.

I started thinking about the up coming baby shower I will be attending soon. It’s for my nephew and his wife, their first baby and my first grand nephew. I thought I could give them the newly completed Thomas the Tank Engine scrappy quilt. I foolishly went to see their gift registry to see if I could get a feel for the colors/theme of the nursery. It is a Winnie the Pooh theme. I remembered that I had seen a cute baby quilt kit for the newish Riley Blake WtP fabric line. I found one and ordered it, along with a second panel, a 5″square pack and a few yards of coordinating fabric. I figured I could use the pattern to make another quilt for the shop while I was at it. The fabric arrived on Tuesday (a day early) and I had it all cut and ready to sew for the next day. This top went together with very little trouble, I had it loaded on the frame and quilting by dinner time. I’m going to finish it today, so it’ll be ready for Saturday.

My stitching on the mermaid tail is continuing, I have been stitching in the day a bit more. Possibly to alleviate the stress of the quilt top sewing. The shape of the tail is really starting to look like something and it is getting easier to add too. I use a disappearing marker to highlight stitch symbols to help with the confetti areas.

Be Kind.

Y-seams aren’t for whimps. This quilt is making me, or rather the making of this quilt, has me taking deep breaths and short breaks. I knew after reading through the directions the first time just what was involved. I have made quite a few Y-seam quilts, diamonds and stripes and hexagons, and eight pointed stars. This one really has my patience at an end. I have ripped so many seams and re-sewn them. It is a top now, and today I will put the borders on, all five of them, and it will be finished. I will have to steam and press the whole thing to make sure there aren’t any volcanoes or other wonkiness. The very center is a big conglomeration of points, I think I may use a mallet to flatten them. One of the more nagging issues I had was sewing the black sections together with black thread. I have very good lighting in my sewing room and on my machine, also have a window at my back that gets indirect light. I struggled to see those y intersections, and I am admitting to “making do” here. Fortunately the black fabric pieces will blend once the quilting happens and I think it’ll all work out.

I did find a specific quilting set that was made for this quilt at Wasatch Quilting. I was looking for a diamond or swirling pantograph when I came upon it. I am hoping that it is dense enough, but not too much backtracking. It is similar to the Gravity quilt I quilted a while ago. I am thinking of using a variegated purple and green thread to break up the black fields. The backing is a green leafy print on white, I want to stay with a light color bobbin.

I would really like to get this done today, so I can get it on the frame. I am also getting itchy to start another quilt, maybe one of the kits I have, definitely one with lots of ninety degree angles.

In cross stitch news, I am making progress on the mermaids tail. Lots of counting and color changes. I am getting the “rhythm” of it though, learning the color symbols and shading. This is stitching more like a whole cloth piece, which is a bit different from the motifs of Consider the Lilies. I am waiting until the end to do the bead work, as I am using a smaller hoop and I don’t want to be crushing the beads when I have to move it to another area. I have used a bit of the metallic threads, in the bra area, but I may just leave those to the end also. The colors of my project are the same as in the finished photo. My camera is seeing them not so pretty today.

Be Kind.