AWAY. I’m cold and it’s wet out, yesterday it hailed for a bit. My bones are cold, and I feel like I need to hibernate. In between rainstorms yesterday, I hung a bunch of cloth napkins out on my solar rotary dryer. I soaked up the sun for a few minutes, looked at all the lush weed growth in my yard and scuttled back inside. In the sewing room I have a portable heater going. I turned off the house’s main heater a few weeks ago after receiving the monthly electricity bill. In the words of every parent throughout the winter months I “put on a sweater” and it wasn’t that chilly. Also keeping busy helps keep one warm.

On the design wall, I took down the scales quilt pieces. I want to rework it with some solids in it to increase the size. Doing so would have required me to pull the pieces down to rearrange them anyway, plus the dog was doing his best to scramble them too. In a box they went, they’ll be back, maybe in the summer. I was left with another box of scraps of another fabric line, Strawberry fizz. I had bought these from Craftsy when they were liquidating their fabrics, two rolls of 1/4 yard cuts. I wanted to make a Tessa Quilt from Kitchen Table Quilting after the Picnic one (Busy Hands Quilts) one I made last year. It took me about an hour to find the digital pattern, as I couldn’t remember the name of it. I didn’t have enough scraps to make a throw size quilt , so I made the baby size. There is some waste when one squares these quilts up, and lots of extra white bordered pieces due to strip piecing and cutting. The top is put together on the diagonal and then trimmed. I still had plenty of fabric left to make another top. I got out the “Just Two Charm Pack Quilts” book (PDF) from Meadow Mist Designs and chose the “Morning flower patch” quilt. Just 400 – 2 ½” blocks and I could use the extra 1 ½” white strip I had from the Tessa quilt scraps. I also remembered to use the Accuquilt Go to cut all those squares. Six passes through with the strip cutting die, and they were done. I spent the day yesterday sewing the nine patches and the cross sections. I may get the 58″ x 70″ top together later today. This is the same book that I used to participate in the quilt a long last month. You can see all the quilts in the quilt parade Cheryl posted a few weeks ago. Lots of inspiration for scrappy quilts.

This past week I also got the binding on the ‘Ribbon Runs Through it’ quilt and it is now on my bed. Plus I got the Morning Glories quilt on the frame and stitched out a row of leafy vines on it.

The Cottage, of the Fabulous Houses series is almost done, I finished the bricks yesterday, and I am hoping to finish the rooftop today. The next one, Hobbit house hasn’t been shipped yet, but I have all the flosses picked and ready to go. A few people on the FB site for this stitch-a-long were saying how they thought this next house was a little dull. Ideas about adding some flowers and changing roof lines are popping up. I kinda like the design as is, although, I think the sheep need dark faces, ears and legs, maybe a little grass under their feet. I was actually thinking I could pull the Consider the Lillies piece out and stitch a little on it while I wait for the FH pattern delivery.

Be Kind.

It’s the last Friday in March, and I couldn’t come up with a good title. My big accomplishment this week is the completion of the Morning Glory top. After getting all the green and white block pieces done and de-papered, I put all the blocks together. Wouldn’t you know I was four green and white pieces short? This is better than making too many I guess. Each 12 inch block has 53 pieces, which adds up to 2597 pieces for the top. This is a typical Bonnie Hunter quilt pattern, and I like that it uses up lots of scraps. I put the top together yesterday, and made an executive decision. I decided to move the Asilomar retreat top back to the TBQ pile and use the backing that I had mounted on the frame for the Morning Glory top. I still have to press the MG top, but its closer to being done.

Steadily stitching bricks and flowers on the Fabulous Houses “Cottage” installment (left side). The next house pattern was released a few days ago, I had gotten the floss requirements, now I have a picture (on right). It’s a Hobbit house, I can’t decide if there are sheep or pigs in the front, possibly fluffy sheep, are there special hobbit sheep?

The bindings were attached to two of the finished quilts, I made the binding for the RRTI quilt, but it will have to wait until next week for its finish. I got the clamshell quilt top on to the design wall, I think it maybe too small for a quilt throw. I sewed two rows together and they are about 32 inched long. I am trying to decide whether to add some more shells in, possibly solid complimentary colors.

My holiday weekend started out being a quiet one, and has evolved into a party, with 7 guests showing up on Sunday. Today is cleaning day, yuck.

Be Kind.

I finished the Green house from The Fabulous House series by Cottage Garden Samplings yesterday. Started it on 2/27/24, so about three weeks to stitch. These houses are about 120 stitches wide and long, on the 20 count Aida they measure about six inches square. This house wasn’t as densely stitched as the other two I have done, but I feel like it took as long to stitch due to all the counting. I did have to un-stitch a few times, and if you notice, the cat isn’t centered. I figure no cat would ever sit where it is put, so mine is a typical cat.

On the piecing front, Morning Glory was stalled a bit when I realized I only had half of the green and white sub-blocks made. I have been sewing the 47 more I need to finish this top assembly. I de-papered them yesterday, and after some pressing today, I will have the blocks complete. Hopefully Saturday will be a day for sewing the top together. The clamshell quilt took a back seat to the Morning Glory, as I needed to cut a bunch more greens and neutrals. Needless to say, the sewing studio is a wreak. I also want to get the binding done on the Almost Yellow Brick road quilt.

I am trying to decide what my next quilt project will be. After finishing the giant Swordfish, I sort of want to start the Jacqueline DeJonge quilt kit I have. Lots of paper foundation piecing, and curves with a rainbow of colors. I do have a few smaller kits in my stash, I “found” a few while searching for more neutral scraps for the Morning Glory quilt. I also want to get a quilt on the LA frame, maybe it is time for the quilt top that I put together at the 2018 Alsilomar retreat . This is also the quilt that spawned the scraps for the Moondance revival and the clamshell quilts. This photo was taken before I added the setting triangles.

Off To sew some green and white squares.

Be Kind.

Today is Saint Patricks day, mid March, and a few days before Spring officially begins. The weather has been so nice these past few days, I have been spending a bit too much time indoors. I feel like I need to go out and soak up some vitamin D and feel the warmth of the sun.

The past few days I have been finishing up a few things in the sewing room. I got the binding on the quilted Fancy Forest and sent it on its way. I bound the Somerville Circle quilt, and trimmed the Big dream and RRTI in preparation for bindings. I need to true up the Big Dream panel quilt, as it will be a wall hanging and really should be square. Most of my bed quilts are square-ish, if they are off by a ½ inch on a side, it’s not noticeable when they are on the bed. Wall hangings should be square. I’m waiting for a semi dark part of the day, when I can use the laser level and get thing squared up. It can be hard to see the red light line in daylight, but if I wait until dusk, it shows up better. I need to spend a day photographing these finished quilts and getting them posted in the shop. I have about eight to do, and it’s not my favorite part of being a small business person.

I spent a few hours removing the papers from the Morning glory quilt block pieces. It is something I can mindlessly do while sitting and listening to a book. There are 49 blocks, each with 9 sub-blocks, which makes 441, 4 ½” pieces that need the paper taken off. I am happy with the cheap newsprint I used for paper foundation piecing these blocks. It is easy to rip off and doesn’t pull the stitches out. I would like to get this quilt put together this month, as it is a spring type project. I have not decided if I want to keep it or sell it yet. I like the scrappiness of it, and I have invested a lot of time into it. I really don’t need another bed quilt for this house.

I can’t remember if I posted about making this “sort of” Yellow Brick road quilt or not. It’s sort of a YBR quilt, because I gave away my copy of the written pattern for it, and made this one from a finished picture. There are a few modifications, due to the mis-measuring of a few blocks, and the size of the scraps I had to work with. I needed to make a gift for a friend of mine who is turning 89 this month. She is a very nice woman who likes horses and gardening and actively plays within those two pursuits. I think I used up the last of the scraps of the Purebred line from Moda in this throw quilt. There is about a yard of the light green frolicking foals print left, and thats okay. I had to order two ½ yards to make the assortment work a little better, I was able to find some on Etsy. Hope to have it quilted by the end of the week, I am using the horse shoe and star panto, I reduced the size a bit.

In other scrappy news, I finished piecing the Moondance Revival top. I had over cut a bunch of arcs and wedges for this top, so in a further effort to reduce the stash, I am making another Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern. This one is from the book, One Wonderful Curve. It’s a simple clamshell, but I am hoping to use up the last of these scraps of Cotton and Steel fabrics circa 2014.

The Greenhouse stitching is about 80% done, I need to work on the snow flakes and the left side flower stalks. I got the next pattern in the mail the other day, it’s a brick cottage, lots of coverage, I have all the floss picked and ready to go. I get to move down to the next row (2nd of 4) so that is progress on this large chart. I thought I would be able to work on the Consider the Lillies piece while doing these small houses. The houses are dense, and my brain can only handle one large project at a time. It almost feels like the two are in different languages, or maybe it’s that the styles and color ways are so different. Speaking of other needlework projects, I have yet to finish the last few February hearts from Meg Hawkey’s free SAL.

Be Kind.

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.