This is my second post using the “new” WordPress editor. My first one was very frustrating and I accidentally erased it before I finished it. It seems to me that they changed where everything is and renamed it. Thanks, but no thanks.

I was working on the Country Christmas quilt on the long arm yesterday and needed something to occupy my hands and mind. There is only so much pet rescue saga one can play while the computer is quilting. The pantograph I am using takes a loooong time to do one row, about eighty minutes. It’s not very complicated, bells, holly and ribbons, but the curved lines really slow things down.

The previous day I had found my kit that I made up for the Crabapple Hill embroidery piece called ‘Shiny and Bright’. I opened it up and started stitching. I was really enjoying stitching by hand, until I realized I no longer had a callous on my needle pushing finger. Found a thimble and was back at it.

Lately, I have been watching a few other bloggers making the Sue Spargo ‘Toned Down Circle’ sampler. There are ninety little wool circles, each sewn differently, with decorative stitches and pretty threads. This is an Instagram stitch along, with a new circle everyday. https://www.suespargo.com/store-detail.php?ID=7494 The URL paste function is different, used to be that I could re-name it, now its ugly, sigh. Anyway it is inspiring to me.

I received the next block for the Botanica quilt BOM, it is two blocks, one part is adding on to the center block, and the other part is a sort of border for the center. It’s medallion style, I think I have picture of it.

YAY! I did it. It’s the little things in life, LOL. Anyway, the center block has the four borders with the flying geese, I may make them today.

I am linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese today for Put your Foot Down. Here’s the (ugly) link https://fortheloveofgeese.com/2020/05/28/put-your-foot-down-53/

I finished the Unity Quilt top yesterday.  I was going to add another side border to square it up, but I think it is done.

Plus, I have used up most of the French General scraps.  The larger pieces will be incorporated into my stash drawers, and neutral bin.  The smaller pieces will be cut into 2 ½ inch squares for the squares bin.  The large tan piece will be for binding, I am hoping there is enough for the Estrella quilt too.

These two photos show how big the pile of FG fabrics was before and after Estrella, there was a jelly roll and some extra yardage that I needed for Estrella that aren’t shown below. I’m pleased with the dent that this has made in my stash.

This French General collection started with this quilt below, Generally French.  Made in 2016.  I forget where I got the idea from, maybe a kit I saw.

My design wall is blank today.  As a “reward” for finishing the Unity top, I made some more masks for my MIL and DD.  My daughter has to wear them all day at work, as she is a dog groomer.  You can just imagine the amount of dust, dander, and hair in the air.  She also wear ear plugs to save her hearing, the blowers are loud and constantly on.  Talk about job hazards.  Anyway, I dug into a deep stash drawer and found this pretty print.  I think after 20 years of marination it is about time this got used up.   It’s still pretty too.

This past week I also worked on the Dutch garden quilt, the blue and yellow one.  I had to order more fabric for it, as I ran out of the dark blue background one I was using.  It was on sale at BluPrint, so I bought enough to finish it and for a backing.  I’ll have to wait until that is delivered, the mail is a bit slow.  Reminds me of the old days, before Amazon Prime, Fed EX, Priority Mail, etc.  “Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery” was a common postscript.  Carefully filling out order forms in block print, enclosing a check or money order (ha, that was another fun step).  Mailing out the order and then waiting for delivery, simpler times, less hurry.

Linking up with Judy, at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.  Judy is working on a lovely hand stitched block sampler, lilac flowers in a basket.

This weeks project is my interpretation of a quilt that I saw on Pinterest.  It is sort of a one large block quilt, with added detail to it.  I have a pile of fabric left over from a quilt kit, the line is Dutch Garden II, blues and yellows.  I felt it was a good way to use it up and make myself a fun project.  It has become a puzzle of sorts, as I go through each section of blocks.  I am trying to make it controlled scrappy, so each block is similar in shading.  My version of the pattern is all squares and half square triangles, I think I could have done flying geese in some parts though.  I am going to make some square in a square blocks for the next border.  I think it needs to be a little larger, it’s square, not really a good size for a throw.  Kinda not baby quilt style either.

I got a phone call yesterday that made me very happy.  The Bernina dealer called and said he had fixed my machine YAY!  There was something wrong with the bobbin sensor, it was still under warranty, so he replaced it, gave my machine a computer update and a thorough cleaning.  I drove right over and picked it up.  The funny thing was that “normally” I would wait until the next morning, as the traffic would have been at a stand still at 3:30pm.  I breezed over in about twenty minutes.  I had an appointment with the shop, so it was just me and the sales lady.  I bought some fabric too.

Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese it’s the one year anniversary of Put your Foot Down .  I think if you do something for 52 weeks it’s officially a habit.

 

 

I have been working behind the scenes, a bit, on the quilts for the Hands 2 Help quilt donation drive.  This year I have five, last year I made six, seems like I have more time this year, but I have been making the Unity quilt, so that takes up a bunch of sewing time too.  I can honestly say that these quilts are all made from my in house stash.  Even made a few franken-battings and pieced backings. Yesterday I quilted the last two, the binding will go on today, and I am hoping that I can get them out to the post office early this week.  I ordered a batch of stamps and tyvek envelopes, thinking I could get everything packed up at home and then make a quick trip to the post office.  Our town has a small office branch, the sales desk area is quite small, so the less time I spend there, the better.

These three quilts are for the Little Lambs program.  I wanted to keep them bright and cheery, but also hard wearing, able to go through many washings and dryings.  The sizes are within those requested by the organizers.  I used up most of a layer cake and a whole pile of solid scraps and charms.  The purple one is a pattern from Jo at Jo’s Country Junction called Brick house.

These two are going to Quilty Hugs.  Last year, a very good friend of ours went through chemo for throat cancer.  I made him a special quilt with this comic book themed fabric and his favorite football teams logo fabric on the back.  The scraps are made into one of these quilts. The second quilt is made from the same scraps as those above, but I used an idea/pattern that a guest blogger, Kate, posted about at Confessions of a Fabric Addict .  It’s called Charming Bingo block, a split nine patch derivative.

 

The quilting was all computerized pantographs, hearts, bubbles, loops, rainbows and stars.

 

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict  today for the Parade of Hands2Help quilts.

Which is a better skill for a quilter to have, the ability to count accurately or to measure accurately? Both would be ideal, but lately I have been slackening on the counting skill.  Yesterday I was happily sewing the 34 blocks for the Unity quilt together.  I had carefully counted out the pieces needed (816), as my supply of French General fabrics is dwindling (yay!).  Each block has 16 pieces, 8 of which are HSTs and 8 solids.  I have been counting these piles over and over since Monday, when I started this clue. 126, 68, 34 were the magic numbers, until I got down to the 34 blocks.  After I finished sewing and ironing them, I counted them, 30 – wrong answer.  I separated them into piles, 10 – 10 – 10- and 3.  Better but still missing one, looked around, on the floor, design wall, my chair, nope, only 33.  I set about making one more, it went together pretty quickly.  Then I started sewing the rows together, 2 rows of 8 blocks and 2 rows of 9 blocks.  Wouldn’t you know, I had one extra?  I got them sewn up to the main body of the quilt today.

I  am still kinda struggling with the rental machine,  it’s a great little machine, hums along and makes nice stitches.  I think it would be one to bring on a retreat.  But, sigh, yesterday I sewed a seam with out bobbin thread.  No bobbin thread sensor.  I am still struggling with the knee lift, I still stop sewing and wait for the presser foot to raise, not a function.  Mostly I miss the even feed, especially when easing seams together.

I have two more quilts to get on the long arm, and one to get binding on, and I am done with the Hands 2 Help quilts.  That’ll be my weekend project, and then I may pull out an UFO and see if I can finish it.  Or… there is the commissioned wedding quilt for September.  Options are good 😁

Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese Put your foot down #51 today, check out her photo trip through her part of the world.

I am crushed.  My beloved, yes, beloved, B790 plus, stopped working yesterday.  I was sewing a binding on to one of the Hands 2 Help quilts and it stopped sewing.  I pressed the pedal again, and it sewed about two inches and stopped again.  I was hoping it was the foot pedal being loose or something, so I pressed the “on” button and the machine did the same thing.  Then it gave me the “gears of death” screen.  Whaaaa!

My dealer is open for appointments and curbside pick up on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I had to wait until 11 to call him, but I was able to bring it over to the shop in the afternoon. Apparently, Bernina in Chicago has also been shut down.  So my machine is in the queue to be sent out, this repair could take up to three months.  What!?! I ended up renting a 535 Bernina from the shop so that I can finish up the Hands 2 Help quilts and save my sanity.  I’ll probably only rent it for the month as it is a little pricey.  This little machine is a work horse though, it’s got most of the bells and whistles that my 790 has, albeit smaller.  The only draw backs for me, are no dual feed and no auto foot lift.  I dug out my knee lift attachment, this action is going to need a little practice.  First world problems.

Here are a couple of pictures of the H2H quilts I finished up last night.

I want to get to quilting the Comic book quilt top I finished this past weekend.  This quilt came about from a bunch of 4X6″ rectangles I cut from this fabric:

I surrounded them with RWB 2 ½” wide strips and came up with an 8X10″ rectangle.  There was just enough of the blue and red coordinating fabrics to make the quilt come together.  I added the borders and then the backing made from the same line as the original fussy cut rectangles finishes up this pile of Comic themed fabric.  BIG YAY!  the scraps will be cut into 2 ½” squares to join the ever growing pile of them.  

This week I also bound the Rambling Rose Quilt, chalk it up to a finish✅. Also stayed up late last night and cut a bunch of HST’s for Monday’s unity quilt step 7.

Trying to Whoop it up, but it’s hard.  Linking with Sarah is hosting “Whoop Whoop Friday” at Confessions of a fabric Addict  today.

This weekend I finished three more tops for the Hands 2 Help quilt drive.  I have two on the frame for quilting and two more lined up.  I think I want to make one more, masculine colors.  These tops used up the last of a Layer Cake I had gotten a few years ago and a bunch of pink solids left over from a few other pink quilts.  I can’t remember the name of the Layer Cake collection, but it was all novelty type prints, there were only a few duplicates, big variety.  I made an eye-spy type quilt last year with it. and then these four, I think I got my moneys worth out of that.

The top left quilt pictured is a quilt that I saw on Jo’s Country Junction, called Brick House.  Her tutorial is HERE, easy to make with charm squares and 2 ½” squares.  Just be sure to make all your blocks in the same way.  I messed up a few, as did Jo, but if you catch them as you make them, this quilt top works up pretty quickly.

The two small baby quilts are plain charm squares and the rest of the layer cake squares.  I am going to quilt them with a cute hearts and circles Pantos that I have, its quick and easy too.

The bottom quilt top is from another tutorial I saw on Confessions of a Fabric Addict, called Charming Bingo Block.  It’s a simple version of a disappearing nine patch, you can make it with charm squares also.  Here’s a link.

I finally got the vellum paper I ordered from Amazon a few weeks ago, good thing it was “Prime”.  I am going to try to run it through my printer for a paper foundation project I want to get started on.  I used vellum for most of the Farmer’s wife quilt blocks as it is SOO much easier to tear off and it is see through, so fabric placement is also easier.  It seems so difficult to buy cheap, thin, printing paper.  The stuff I buy from Costco is cheap, but too thick and sturdy to use for paper foundation.  I have to be very careful removing it, as I can also remove thread/seams.

The sixth clue for the Unity Quilt-A-Long is up.  Seems simple enough, lots of HSTs, I can use the Accuquilt die to cut them YAY!

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

May the Fourth be with you!

 

This is my last “Sew” title post, I can’t think of any more.  Probably should have saved it for 5/4/2020, May the fourth be with you and all.

I stayed up last night and got round five of the Unity quilt finished.  More flying geese and some small squares.  The hardest part is keeping it mixed up enough.  The pile of left over French general fabrics is shrinking.  I’m happy about this, but also hoping I don’t have to buy any more.

I finished the quilting on the Rambling Rose quilt.  The name is new, it popped into my head when I was doing the last row.  I was thinking of something that was western themed, Westworld, Annie Oakley, Wagons Ho, Denim and Roses, and so forth.  The tones are sepia and blues with cranberry red, it has an old west sort of vibe about it.  The backing is all mauve-y roses and leaves.  Going to get the binding on it today.

I managed to sew another twenty masks, for family and friends.  I’m really done with sewing them.  It’s not that they are hard to sew, or take that long, or aren’t appreciated, just that I have made over 90 of them.  I mentally don’t want to make anymore, but, then I have a hard time saying no.

I did get my dahlia tubers separated and planted at the end of last week,  I’m anxiously awaiting sprouts.  This year I only have two tomato plants, an Early Girl and a Sun Gold.  I tried to start some seeds for peppers, but I don’t think they are going to sprout, it’s been two weeks.  The tomatillo seeds did sprout, along with a squash, so there will be something besides flowers on the deck this summer.  Tomatillos are surprisingly easy to grow and tolerant of neglect.  Last year I made green salsa and Chili Verde with the ones from my garden.

 

What does the phrase “So and so” mean any way?  So and so said… So and so was… it’s not really yada-yada, it’s more like what’s-her-name,  I dunno. what does the dictionary say –

Used instead of a particular name to refer to someone or something, especially when the real name is not important or you have forgotten it:
She always keeps me up to date with the latest gossip – you know, so-and-so from down the road is having a baby and so-and-so’s just bought a car.

It was a pretty quiet week here.  I made some progress on the Hillside kit quilt, all of the blocks done 18 main ones and 17 alternate ones.

Made some more masks.  A friend of mine got some very pretty tie dyed squares of fabric that she wanted masks made from.  I was able to make four from a square, with the addition of some batik for the inside layer.  Assembly line sewing at its best.  While I was at it I made a few more for friends and me.   Just got an order for 6 more, sigh.

Clue number 5 is out for the Unity quilt today.  It shouldn’t take too long, as it is three rows added to the top and bottom.  I may change up the colors, use red instead of the neutral.  Everything is two inches, there will be cutting of the rotary type with this step.

I got another quilt on the frame and started quilting a fairly simple end-to-end design called Feather Duster.  It moves fairly quickly, about 12 minutes a row.  I thought I had a picture of this quilt, but I don’t.  Here is the one from Bluprint.

I added a six inch border of the blue floral print that is the backing.  I thought I did a post about this quilt, but maybe not.  I cut all the triangles with the Accuquilt cutter in about two hours.

The Hands 2 Help, over at  Confessions of a Fabric Addict , quilt drive is quickly coming to an end, donation quilts need to be sent out by the week of May 31st.  I have two tops done, maybe I’ll make one more.  The charity that really touched my heart this year is Little Lambs.  They give out small quilts to kids in foster care, who really don’t have much to call their own as they are moved through the system.  These need to be a bit smaller, up to 42 inches square, quilt-in-a-day type.

Off to sew.

More half square triangles were sewn this week.  I cut the 512 triangles I needed for part four of Unity on Tuesday.  I used the Accuquilt for half of them, the neutrals, and cut the rest with my trusty Easy Angle.  Most of the scraps from the Estrella quilt are 2 ½ inch wide strips, so it was done pretty quickly, I just had to make sure I was getting variety.  I didn’t get to sew much yesterday, as it was errand  day.  I left my house (gasp!) at about 10:30 and finally got back at 3:30.  I did go riding, but most of the time was spent shopping.  By the end of the day, it was all I could do but sit and cut off the dog ears from the HSTs sewn that morning.

I do have a finish!  YAY! Monday I finished the quilting on the Heart in a fog quilt, Tuesday I squared it up and bound it.  It turned out nicely, very cheerful due to the rainbow of colors.  I really like this backing fabric, its from Wilmington, “Bubble Up”, a 108″ wide.

My frame is empty, I am going to get another quilt on it, hopefully today.  It’s only 4:30am, so I can say that and it may happen.  I’ll end with a picture of Chewie, fixated on a squirrel.     

 

Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down #48 today.