Almost two weeks have gone by since my last post, I have a finish and some progress. My Castle is built, stitch by stitch. I enjoyed finishing this one, it’s not a large piece, just dense. It is one of those stitchery pieces that look better if you step back from it. After a month of working on it under the magnifier, seeing it as a whole makes me appreciate the subtle color changes and patterning on the roof and bricks. I found this photo of the Liechtenstein Castle, and I think that there is a lot of similarities with the stitched castle. Next up is the greenhouse, lots of negative space and filigree swirls.

I worked on getting the Somerville circle quilt quilted. I chose a bunch of Sunflowers I had in my digital library, from Wasatch. There are five different ones and the smaller ones fit the borders. I had to take this quilt off the frame, to turn it to make the vertical into horizontal borders. This quilt is on the same backing as two others, the Big Dream dahlia and a un-named floral quilt. They add three more to the binding pile, I still have to bind the ‘Ribbon Runs Through It’ quilt, its so big, I have to psych myself up, and do some warmup exercises before tackling it. I also needed to get the Fancy forest on the frame, to quilt it up.

In the sewing room, I’m about 2/3rds done with the Moondance Revival top. I have been getting a block (5 x5) done each day. After cutting all the pieces and getting the sub-blocks sewn, this is the easy/fun part. The more it comes together, the better I like it. At first I was questioning my color choices, but I think it is working out. I also realized that I cut too many outer arc pieces. I am trying to think of a way to use them, possibly in an additional border. This week is shaping up to be busy, I’d like to get the Fancy Forest done, put Somerville back on and finish it, and maybe load the Swordfish top. Finishing the Moondance top would be good too. I would like to get started on finishing the Morning glory quilt blocks ⬇️ too. I need to have a paper removal session or two.

Be Kind.

There is nothing like finishing a big project and feeling the freedom to start something new. I have gotten start-itis a few times in the past, you know when the thrill of starting something new causes you to start a bunch of new things all at once. Then you feel bummed that you never finish anything and feel like you’re plodding on in a never-ending doldrums of a sort. Which then can lead to UFO land…I digress, it’s a cycle to be avoided.

I finished up the Fancy Forest quilt, this is the third one I have made, although the first one was a queen size one, which is four baby size ones put together. I had a bit of fun choosing the colors for this one, I stuck to mostly “lifelike” ones, but I really like the teal and green owls. I was able to use all scraps for this top, and only purchased the blue background. I haven’t picked a backing yet, but may go with a solid, this is a good size quilt to use up some franken-batting too.

The Castle is nearing completion, I just need to finish the roof and the white border flourishes. Then it is on to the Greenhouse. The Cottage is after that, all I have is the thread list, hoping the pattern will be released soon. I like the color combo for the flosses, I imagine a thatched roof, English type cottage with a garden in front, we’ll see. I have been keeping up with the Heart a Day SAL from Meg Hawkey. Most of them are fairly easy, and we are getting to the end. Once I finish this, I will start a new Simple days block, since I am in the hand stitching mode. It would be good to get another one finished for February, since this month is slipping by. Also I need to check something off the white board list.

Since I finished the Forest, I started on another quilt that has been in the queue for a few months. The Moondance revival pattern is from Sew Kind of Wonderful and uses the quick curve mini ruler to cut all the drunkards path bocks. I got everything cut over the past two days, now comes the fun part, curve piecing all the blocks. The blocks finish at 4 inches square, so there will be more cutting and squaring.

I am starting to see more and more Quilt-con quilts popping up on Instagram and in blogs. I have always wanted to go and see them in person, maybe next year, its going to be in Phoenix AZ. Close enough, and I have been there a few times.

Be Kind.

I have been away for a few days, but I’m back and itching to start a few new things and finish some others. Before I left, I finished piecing the Swordfish top. Very happy to have that done and in the TBQ pile. Cleaning up after the final de-papering was not as fulfilling as completing the top, but it got done. All the scraps have been put into stash, the empty bags stored with all the other ones and the room got a fairly thorough vacuuming/hoovering. I like the word Hoover so much more than vacuum, as in “I’m just going to hoover the rugs”. I don’t have Hoover brand machines, “I’m Miele-ing the carpet now” doesn’t roll off the tongue as well. Anyway, there were a lot of tiny little scraps of paper and bits of fabric in all the corners and spaces under my sewing table and chair. Now those areas are cleaned and dust free, for a while anyway.

I got started on another Elizabeth Hartman Fancy Forest animal quilt that I need to have done for next month. I have all the fabrics, and background yardage gathered up and ready to cut. I’d also like to make a quilt from the Moon Dance Revival pattern by Sewkindawonderful. Since I just finished up all the curved stitching on the swordfish top, I am feeling very confident about stitching circles and curves. Since I’ll have a bunch of solids out on the cutting table anyway, it sound be easy enough to put together.

I did not bring any handwork on my little vacation, very odd for me, but I was one two very full plane rides and didn’t have much down time. I did miss a few days of the Tiny hearts stitching, I am almost caught up, need to stitch yesterdays and todays hearts. The large one, has a bullion stitch border around it that is being saved for last. Meg Hawkey’s plan, but it think its prudent, so that the stitches won’t get crushed by the hoop when we finish up the last hearts. The Castle is being built, block by block, and the roof is going on. The patterns on the roofs are repetitive and only two colors, which makes them fairly easy to work. I am hoping to have this finished be the end of the month. Then it’s on to the greenhouse, the next house in the set is called Cottage, only the colors have been released. Speaking of new releases, Nashville Market is also at the beginning of March, lots of tempting new charts and projects. I have had the “Beach Comber” chart by Lindy stitches in my cart for a while. I think it is charming, might stitch it up for my sisters beach house.

After getting home yesterday, I had a few hours left in the day, I used them to finish quilting the Big Dream flower. I also got a start on the pastel lap quilt (nameless right now). I have enough room on this same backing/batting for two more small quilts. I need to look through the TBQ pile for something to add on to it.

The weather this weekend isn’t conducive to outdoor activities, and I am going to sew and stitch for most of it. House cleaning be damned, or postponed a few days 😉

Be Kind.

When it rains, I sew. I am making lots of progress on the swordfish quilt top. I have most of the piecing done, I finished the spikey outer arcs yesterday. I have to put the large outer inset pieces together, then the whole top. It is put together in quadrants to avoid inset seams. It will be nice to work on something a little less “all encompassing”, once I clean up all the papers and fabric scraps from this project.

The Crabapple Hill stitch-a-long is fun, a new heart a day. I am brushing up on my stitches, and learning some new to me ones. The button hole stitch is one, I always used the blanket stitch for edging appliqué. The buttonhole has a small “anchor” on it, I like that it is more of an L than a C. I am using the Cosmo flosses I have left over from the Garden sampler and other Crabapple Hill projects I have done. I would like to add a little color to the fabric, but I can’t decide if I should use pencil or crayon. Now that we are 6 hearts in, I probably should not.

The Castle house is coming along, I am stitching it from the bottom up, whereas I did Santas House top down. I am a little disappointed that the four different shades of tan aren’t showing up as much as I would like. Looking at the photo below, they seem to show up okay. The walls of the castle remind me of a fair lisle sweater, but they are a bit more of a pain to stitch. Full coverage stitching is something I have been wanting to try. All the videos I have watched make it look easy, but the idea is hard for me to grasp. Parking threads and jumping from area to area with colors as needed, plus having all those threads hanging and trying to remember which is which. It is daunting to me, plus I like my backs to be neat, I will seldom jump more than three stitches to continue a thread. I got brave the other day and measured out the total area needed for the houses and cut the Aida cloth. It is so much easier to stitch without the extra rolled fabric on it.

The quilting on the Big Dream is stalled, I think there are ten more small petals to stitch out. Maybe I’ll finish it today. We have company coming tomorrow, so there are cleaning chores to be done today. 

Be Kind.

I feel pretty good about my progress this month. I have two finishes I am happy with and a few steps forward in the UFO department. My biggest finish is the Hawaiian quilt. It is quilted and bound and if the weather wasn’t getting ready to storm, I would be bringing it back to its owner. This is the largest quilt I have ever quilted and what a bear it was. It was so big that I had to fold over the edges to fit it on the frame. I started quilting on it 12/10/23, and finished it on 1/29/24. A little procrastination and the holidays and maybe a little more procrastination, made for a lengthy quilting journey. The actual total quilting time was probably closer to 25 hours. I wrote a bit about its history in this post, when I return it I want to find out more about its history. I cut and used 11 strips of binding, 42 x 11 = 462 inches, and yes it was all machine bound.

I started quilting a Big Dream panel with Wasatch quilting’s digital designs. It is coming along nicely, each petal is a different design. I probably should have done my own hand guided designs, but, I had the set in my digital library. I put a remnant 108 backing on the frame, so there is room for three other small quilts once this one is done. I have a baby themed one, and maybe I’ll get my collage Grey Owl piece on there, finish that UFO from my Asilomar retreat last year. Then I want to get the Indigo Way top done, and a few other small throws. I just need a break from giant quilts before I start the Reunion quilt.

My biggest finish is also my smallest in size (compared to the quilt). The first fabulous house is done, Santas House. I started the next one, Castle, and the third chart “Greenhouse” is on its way to me in the mail. I think I want to stitch the outer border of the greenhouse, so that I can cut the extra Aida cloth off the long side. The 12 houses are stitched on a 3 x 4 square grid, my fabric is 36″ wide, because I didn’t want to guesstimate and come up short. I have a large roll of extra on the side of the hoop, which is cumbersome.

The Swordfish top is coming along too. I finished all the spikes and I am on to the next round with the Drunkards path blocks. I try to do a set or two a day, these sets have 36 blocks, so I am doing 18 of them. The laser pointer at the needle of my new-ish 790 pro is very helpful for sewing on the lines of paper foundation pieced blocks. 

On the BOM side of things, I got one block of the Simple Days and one block of the Message in a bottle quilts done this month. The swordfish project is taking up my sewing area, so I have not gotten to the 365 block quilt. I did go through it and figure out where I left off, and have signed back into the website to follow along once I can. 

We are supposed to get a lot of rain today, I’ll be sewing as much as I can today. Hoping we don’t loose power, as it is pretty windy out there today.

Be Kind.