I got my acceptance letter for “Sew She Did” from PIQF Monday.  I’m excited!  I’m proud of it, and happy to be able to share it with the quilting community.  I really don’t expect to win anything, but getting into a juried show is a prize in itself.

A few people I follow on instagram have been showing quilts from the recent AQS show at Grand Rapids.  Wow. There are/were some beautiful and masterful quilts on display.  Jenny K Lyon was a teacher there and posted a bunch of photos on her blog Quilt Skipper.  A few of those pictured, are works of such creativity that one may forget they are made of fabric.

I have been continuing the piecing of the Free spirit Melody quilt.  I received my needed yardage and got all the pieces cut for the Flying Dutchman block.  Along with printing the foundation papers.  Wouldn’t you know that both printers were out of ink?  A trip to the office supply store was needed too.  I discovered I had an AccuQuilt cutting die that was the right size for the triangles of this block.  That made cutting the 208 white triangles a bit easier.  I got one block done that day, only 12 more to go.  The picture on the right shows how the FD block combines with the sawtooth and big goose to form the secondary design.

I should be able to make some headway into this construction this weekend.  Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down #17 today.

 

 

Got back from vacation last Thursday and started back in on the donation quilt.  Its called “Free Spirt Medley” and the pattern is part of a Judy Martin pattern add on for EQ8.  I have always liked Judy Martins patterns and her way of writing/laying them out.  They are very logical with piece counts and yardages, units needed etc.  The EQ8 version isn’t all that, I have a few issues with it, and thankfully, I can deal with them, but I feel that another person with perhaps less experience, wouldn’t cope as well.

This is the quilt.

The first issue was/is with the yardage needed.  EQ8 has a option that will tell you how much fabric you need for a design.  The requirement for the red in this quilt was 2 ½ yards.  I should have checked that before I ordered it.  I have just finished the red pinwheel with stripes border – 36 blocks.  I have less than ½ yard of red left.  I ordered more red and blue, just in case.  Next up, the white and blue saw tooth blocks in the center section.  They are actually a sashing surrounding the Flying Dutchman blocks.  Each one has a large flying goose on the top and bottom of the saw tooth to combine with the FD block to form the blue outline around it.  These blocks are in the pattern as 3″ x 3″ squares.  If you’ve worked with EQ8, there is a a function it does that will morph the block you’re inserting in a quilt to the right size.  It’ll let you put a 3″ x 3″ block in a 6″ x 3″ space and make it “look” right.  The issue is that when looking at the block sizes to make, it shows the 3″x 3″ should be made, not the 6″x3″. Luckily I caught that one before making those.  The next blocks I have to make are the Flying Dutchman.  Not too complicated, except that they are on point, and the flying geese aren’t a common size.  They are 2 1/3 high.  The program does give foundation paper patterns to make these, but doesn’t really tell you which method to use as there are options for templates and rotary cutting too.   I’m planning on finishing the pinwheels today and moving on to the Dutchman blocks.

My design wall is looking pretty sparse.

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.

I finally finished the quilting on “Sew She Did” yesterday morning.  I had a quilting marathon this past weekend I think I clocked 10 or more hours.  Yesterday I did a final check of the quilt before unpinning it from the frame, and found a few places I had missed.  I brought it in to the sewing room and squared it up and got ready to bind it. Then, for some reason, I felt that I needed to check the registration form, and there I saw that it was due the 27th, not the 28th.  Oh NO! But Oh Good! at the same time.  I came up with a plan.  I sewed the binding on to the front and was going to glue baste it to the back. This way I could take the two photos I needed and then finish the binding and hanging sleeve at leisure.  The glue thing was a fiasco, first, this quilt has two layers of batting, cotton with wool on top.  Second, I cut my binding to fit tightly, and the glue couldn’t hold it to the backing well enough.  So I pinned it, with many pins.  I set up my quilt rack and got the pictures and filled out the form and sent it in (digitally).  By 4:30pm I was done.  I really though I would have finished this quilt last week and had an early-ish entry, but the stars weren’t aligned for me this year.  Between a vacation, a house guest and even a day without electricity, time was not on my side.  I started this quilt on June 24th, and semi finished August 26th, nine weeks.  I wish I could get paid by the hour😏

Just have to wait until 9/9 to hear back if I’m in for PIQF 2019.

I have a new deadline to meet October 19th.  I agreed to donate a quilt for a Lions Club auction to benefit veterans.  I am going to make Judy Martins “Free Spirit Melody” from her Star Power quilts collection on EQ8.  It’s red white and blue, doesn’t look too tedious, and thankfully I can do a panto on it, no more custom quilting for a bit.  I need to recover  from “Sew She Did”.  Fabric is ordered and I’m ready to get started, after a quick vacation – insert eye roll -.

(Previously written) I got this top together, after the photo I noticed an error in the top right corner, I think that should be a half hex not two triangles. I made a bunch of pinwheels from the scraps from cutting the triangles. The seashell paired with the turquoise should make a good border. I found some pink that matches too. I’m thinking solid pink inner border, then pinwheels, then aqua binding.

This is as far as I got this past week , and I’m not too sure like it.  It also has some issues with square-ness.  The right side is 1 ½ inches shorter than the left side.  Umhmmm.  It’s weird because the right side has less bias edges.   

I was going to fix it yesterday, but we had no electricity for about eight hours.  Very disappointing.  This also meant that I couldn’t get any quilting done on my “Sew She Did” quilt.  I did about 4 hours on Tuesday, and I am nearing the finish.  Still have the binding to do too.  The 28th is looming on the horizon, just keep sewing, just keep sewing.

On the knitting front, I finished my Rock Pooling shawl and started a new cardigan, called Classic Oak Cardigan.

Plus the pattern for the fourth Shawl Society shawl is downloaded.  It’s quite pretty with lace and size, it’s called ‘In the Dunes’.

I think I want to buy more yarn (gasp!) to make it in a sandy-beachy color.  I should look in the yarn stash,  but the pattern calls for 1100 yards of light weight fingering or lace.  Hmm, there may be some alpaca or gradient dyed lace weight.  After a quick visit to yarn-landia, I realized that I do not need to buy anything yarn-like in the near future.  I found these two, the gradient one might work, but the Misti alpaca is so soft and there is enough yardage.  

Linking up with Denise today at For the Love of Geese for “Put Your Foot Down #14”.

I plan on doing that today!

The other day I saw a quilt that I wanted to make.  The pattern used equilateral triangles and half hexagons.  I liked how it was random enough, but still had some design flow and it would look good in scrappy mode.  I decided on using this shell fabric I have had for a few years, and two solid color charm packs that matched the print.  Then I got out the AccuQuilt and started cutting the print into triangles.  That was quick and easy.  Then I sorted out the charms and cut them in half and made them into hexagons using the Hex and More ruler/template.  It was going smoothly and so quick, I was actually thinking that I would have this top finished within the day.  As with all my quick and easy quilt plans, it was not to be.  As I started putting the blocks together, I noticed the half hexagons were too big, or rather the triangles were too small.  The AccuQuilt triangle die cut is 1/4 inch smaller than the triangles/hexagons cut with the hex and more.  ARGH!  It was time to leave the room and go quilt with the long arm.

The next day, I figured I had two options, sub out the shell fabric for something else and cut new triangles, or adjust all the half hexies and smaller triangles to fit.  I chose the latter, I was able to use the Hex and More ruler to cut the large pieces down to fit the triangles.  I got the blocks together, they are diamond shaped.  Then I had the problem of not having enough of them to make a decent sized quilt.  I was hoping for lap size, but it seems like it will be baby sized.  I am trying to make up a different pattern with the left over parts and pieces.  I am trying to sub in a few rows of large pieces triangles and seeing how I can get the sides straight and not sawtoothed, by inserting pieces.  I walked away from it again yesterday and spent a good amount of time long arming and not thinking of “it”.

I wish I could figure out how to use EQ8 to (re)design it, but its beyond my remedial skills.

The good thing is that my show quilt is getting quilted.  I’m about 40% done, if I continue at this pace I will be done before the due date, 8/28.  We have company arriving on Wednesday, so my sewing time will be limited.  Which reminds me I need to clean up the guest room.

Linking up today to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

This past week was a busy one for me.  It started out last Thursday when I brought my machine in for servicing.  It had requested it with a very large pop-up screen on Wednesday.  I figured with it being gone for a week I could get started on my PIQF quilt.  It was on the frame and the battings were “resting”, or getting their wrinkles out.  I am trying to quilt on it for two hours a day, as it is due for entry on the 28th of this month.  After 5 days, I think I’m going to have to up the time to three hours.  The borders are pretty intensive, and it takes me about two hours to quilt each block.  I’m liking what I have so far, coming up with different designs for each one.  Lots of ruler work, and thread changes get tedious, but I think it’ll be a show worthy quilt when it is done.  My machine was done on Saturday and I picked it up Sunday, it purrs again.

I got to work on my Mrs. Miller’s Apprentice blocks for this month, pretty baskets with lots of HST.

I put a border onto my Minute quilt too, still trying to use up that fabric pile. I have  about a half yard of each left.  I feel like it needs another border to frame it up, maybe red or blue or white.

This week I also went on a bit of a shopping spree.  I saw a set of quilt frame clamps on the Bernina Q24 facebook page that I needed.  They were available at Nancy’s Notions, and a fat quarter bundle of Sequoia (Laundry Basket Quilts) jumped into my cart too.  Then I got an email from Nancy’s that their Accuquilt stock was on sale – 20% off.  Oh so tempting, I have been wanting to get the Angles Companion Qube set.  It will make cutting out the Alaska quilt so much easier, all those triangles.  After I had it in the cart, I noticed that in order to really get the most use out of it, they recommend that you have the Mix and Match set.  They are both on their way to my studio now.   Also, while cutting the pieces for the Minute border, I realized that my cutter was getting dull.  I went to the drawer of notions to get a new blade.  This is what I found:

I found some new ones on Amazon, rather than going to the store, for further temptation.  I guess I can confess to yarn purchases (Christmas sweater, sock yarn) and a pattern and fabric kit for the Judy Niemeyer Feathered Star quilt, while I’m at it. It was all on sale – really.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for “Can I get a Whoop-Whoop?” today.

 

 

This past weekend I bound until I could bind no more.  Six quilts that needed to be bound and moved on to the finished pile.  I spent most of Saturday sewing and listening to a book, it was going to be a hot day and I decided to stay in.  I did go out in the early morning to water my plants on the deck, but otherwise I stayed in the AC filtered air.

Sunday was still hot, so I went to work sashing and putting together the Christmas Figs BOM.  It took about four hours, I was surprised by how long because it’s just simple straight line sewing.  The blocks are large, 16 inches finished, so I guess when you add up all the sashing strips, 49, and the setting blocks it is a lot of sewing.  It’s a big quilt 😊 and I can’t wait to start quilting it.

 

On the Quilting list, ‘Sew She did’ is still waiting for the wool batting I ordered to come in,  I don’t have the quilt backing loaded yet, because I wanted to get Playdate on to the frame and quilted first.  Unicorns abound!  I found the sparkle minky at The Fat Quarter Shop a few weeks ago, hoping this quilts finds a little girl to love it.

Linking up with Judy for Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I don’t think I ever had to write an essay about my summer vacation while growing up.  We lived at the beach, so from the last day of school to Labor Day, we spent most of our days there.  I once even had a summer job working at a concession stand on the beach. It was an idyllic life for a kid.

This summer I spent my vacation in Oregon with my horse at a ranch in Gold Beach.  Pretty idyllic too.  We went to the beach one day, but it was very windy, so rugged and beautiful.  We also drove down the coast to the town of Brookings.  There is a yarn and fabric store there, called By My Hand.  It’s an open and well lit place with lots of friendly people.  I found yarn for my next shawl in the Curious Handmade series called Tidepool. They even wound it into cakes for me, so kind.  Now if I can just finish the floating shawl, only about 15 more rows to go🙄.

Before I left, I got the borders on my Sew She Did quilt.  There was pinning involved, and NO re-sewing, yay.  Everything fit, the first time around. Ignore the Christmas quilt on the bed in front, it’s there to remind me to bind it and the other two I’ve finished recently

I sewed my backing together yesterday, I had six yards of a gray and black floral print and three yards of a quilty word print. I carefully cut the salvages off and had to cut the words fabric on grain. I used pins and got things together, even ironed it.  But this quilt has to wait until next week for me to start it.  I decided to use a double batting, wool on top of cotton.  I really want the stitching definition to show, if I’m going to spend time quilting this thing to the max, I want it to show up.  Of course I have no wool batting in stash, Amazon to the rescue!  It’ll be here next week, in the meantime I think I’ll throw the playdate quilt the frame and get my unicorns on.

Lastly, I finished up a top this morning, much pink-ness. Great pattern for a charm pack, with the border I used up almost all of it.  It’s for my DH’s associate, I think her baby is due in August.

Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down #10 today.

When I first started my blog, I wanted to name it “Sew she Did”.  Remember the old story about the little red hen, she has a lot of work to do, but no one wants to help her?  The story ends with the hen making/baking bread, by herself, and eating it all by herself.  At the time I had three teenage children at home, and I was that hen.  I know it was partly my fault for not instilling some kind of work ethic into that trio, but it was frustrating at times.  The sheer lack of (their) motivation was astounding to me, sewing time was my salvation.  Just me in my studio, making my things, all by myself, with the satisfaction (usually, LOL) of a job well done.  Sorry, I digress, unfortuneatly, the name was already taken by someone else, so I went with Touch of Grey instead.  That’s a story for another time.  Fast forward to now, the teens are adults and moved out,  I still do most of the chores, but they stay done for longer, and there is a lot more sewing time.

This quilt is named “Sew She Did”, I have two more borders to attach, but its 80 percent done.  It is a quilt that I designed, chose fabrics for, cut out, and sewed together, all by myself. 😉

There will be a red coping strip and then a final border of red and white on point squares surrounding it.  I was going to go with a simple border of plain strips, but since it’s a show quilt, I felt I had to push the envelope a bit.  I did the math, figured out the sizes of the squares and triangles to make it work.  There was a 3 3/8 ths measurement involved, but it worked.  I’m hoping to get the borders attached before Sunday, as I want to bring my machine in for a spa treatment.

Linking up today with For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down #8.

This fabric line, Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater/Moda, has become my focus for the next few weeks.  It’s discontinued and there is a 2.0 out there, equally nice.  I think I’ve had this FQ pack for about four years, and looking at the left overs, I’m hoping to be done with it this summer.  The first quilt I made with it, Sewing quilt is on the frame and being quilted with a cute sewing themed panto that has pincushions, scissors, needle and thread and a spool of thread.  Each row takes about 40 minutes to stitch out, only four more to go.  The second quilt I am still piecing, this one is going to be my PIQF entry this year.  I am hoping to finish the blocks, two more to go, this weekend, and get it all together before I go on vacation.

Then I’ll be able to quilt it for the next five weeks, I think that I can do it, even with a bit of procrastination.  I was able to find a yard of the coordinating white on white print on Etsy yesterday.  I am determined to use up the rest of this pile of scraps, maybe do a simple alternating 2 inch square quilt, controlled scrappy quilt to finish the scraps.

After the PIQF quilt, my ‘To Do List’ looks like this:

1.  Finish Minuet Mystery (borders and quilt)
2. Sew Mama act 3 – piece
3. Baby girl quilt for a friend (August Baby)
4. Play Date quilt – quilt it
5. Growing up Odd – quilt it (finally got a 118 wide backing
6. Berties Year – quilt it (got backing and poly batting)
7. Bind Christmas quilt and woven quilt (need bindings made)

Vacation First!  This is a non quilting trip, I think I’m going to bring my current knitting project, The Floating Shawl.  Or I could bring the hand work wreath project Shiny and Brite that I started a few months ago.  I got all the tracing and the coloring in part done, just need to start on the embroidery accents.

Linking up with Judy today at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.