Or this and that. I am feeling less than productive this week. Although I have a few things/projects moving along, I’m having trouble being in the sewing mode. Our guests are still here, waiting anxiously for the evacuation order to be lifted from their little slice of town. I am enjoying hanging out with my friend, reminiscing about old times, talking through new times and future plans. Due to social distancing, we hadn’t really seen each other since February. Living together is easy, we get along, we cook and clean and laugh and talk and sometimes just sit and be in the moment.

I finished the binding on the paper boat quilt, going to gift it next week. When I was quilting it, I had extra backing and batting at the end of the quilt, so I was able to add a panel on to it. I got this cute panel from Connecting Threads, Fruit box labels, with the city of San Jose on them. San Jose used to be know as the valley of hearts delight (or something like that). Back in the early 1900s it was mostly fruit orchards, plums and apricots. There was also a large canning/processing area near downtown. Can you imagine the beauty of the spring bloom of all those trees? Then the subdivisions and developments moved in during the 50s and 60s. The fruit production slowed as the orchards were replaced with lawns and back yards. There are few remnants to be seen, but you have to look hard. Anyway, a friend of our lives in SJ, and has a thriving fruit orchard in his yard. I thought these placemats would be a appropriate for him. I should finish the bindings today. Also in the “to be Bound” pile is the Promenade quilt. I cut the binding, just need to sew it on.

I spent a few hours Thursday finishing moving the rest of the sewing/craft related items for the old room to the new one. I reconfigured the closet system in the new room, more shelves, and better spacing. Now everything is in one room. The old room is almost ready for habitation, just need to get rid of a few pieces of furniture, and find a place to put a large assortment of sports trophies.

• 

• 

The smoke from all the wildfires is still very prevalent in our area, which doesn’t make it pleasant for outdoor activities. I am glad the temperatures are back to normal though. My electric bill was shocking this past month, they even chastised me for going over the “normal” average usage. Maybe I should treadle, save some energy, burn some calories, but I’d probably have to turn on the AC to keep cool enough to work and that would negate any savings. Besides, sewing machines don’t really use that much energy, it’s things like washing machines, dryers and refrigerators that do.

Be kind

Although we are about 10 miles from the current wildfires (CZU Lightning complex) we are mostly safe, but ready to go if the winds change so to speak. It’s really smokey outside and sometimes there is light ash fall, time to be staying indoors. We are hosting my friend and her family, their home is directly in the line of the fires. I haven’t had much time to sew this week, but I did get my two BOMs finished and the Boat quilt is 90% done. I may finish it tomorrow, just want to outline the boats.

I have also spent a few hours knitting the peacock shawl. I have ripped it out 6 times, I think I have it right, then my stitch count is off by one. It seems like if I can get it to about 6 inches in diameter, then I’ll be able to see my previous stitches better.

I’m itching to start a new project. I have been downloading the weekly clues for The Holiday Solstice quilt. Its a mystery block of the week by Michelle Renee Hiatt at Sew On The Go . If you want to get the previous 10 weeks, you’ll have to sign up for the subscription to get all the past clues. I have missed two, so I’ll probably end up buying it. I would really like to use the rest of the scraps from the Christmas figs quilt. Michelle is using the Christmas figs II fabric line and has a solids version. I also have a few kits I could start, or a few UFO’s I could finish…

I made a bit more progress on the cross stitch project too. I am getting back into the groove of chart reading and counting. Employing a highlighter helps too.

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

Be Kind

This weekend flew by. It’s been very hot here, add staying in and sewing is happening. Sadly, not much sleep happened these past two night. Got woken up at 3:30 am on Saturday night by a massive thunder and lightening storm. The newspaper reported there were over 2500 lightening strikes in our area. That’s a lot of booming and flashing, then worrying that nothing catches fire.

Friday I pulled out the bin of holiday fabrics and choose a bunch of halloween themed prints. Started cutting squares and rectangles for the Phat Boo pattern from Sew Fresh Quilts, I got a few weeks ago. Saturday I got half of the blocks done and Sunday finished them and put the quilt top together. Its small, 37″ square, I guess it’s a wall hanging. I’m thinking a pumpkin vine pantograph would work.

There was no long arm activity happening, that room has no AC and no windows to open for a cross breeze. I am trying to pick a panto for the Alaska quilt. It’s difficult, because there are soo many to pick from. I spent about an hour on line looking through hundreds of them. Too flowery, too square, too dense, too pointy, too loopy. I want something that will give some texture, but not take away from the piecework. Something that will hold up to wear and tear and something that will quilt out fairly quickly.

This is Chinook, its about 8 inches wide, I think I’ll bump it up to 10 though. The quilt is 102″ square, so ten rows or so.

Chinook (dog), a rare breed of sled dog. Chinook hops, a variety of hops. Chinook olives, a dish of acorns cured with urine. Chinook salmon, a species of fish.

It is also a thirty-five million dollar double rotor-ed Helicopter, a Tribal name, and it means “warm wind” in Salish. I think I’ll pass on the acorn dish though.

I put a few hours into the cross stitch project. A few more flowers and some leaves. This is my before bed project, I try to stay up until 10pm, my theory is that I will sleep later, so far this isn’t the case.

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

Be Kind

This past weekend I started the great migration into the room across the hall. There was a lot to do, and it is just now winding down to sorting through the “why did I save this?” piles. I painted for three days, ceiling trim and walls. But before painting began there was the furniture that had to be moved out. Some had to be disassembled, most went into other rooms and some stayed. The furniture that stayed was pushed around the room while the painting happened. Tuesday night I started putting my things into the room. I continued yesterday, and got the majority of the room set up. I am debating on whether or not to move the sewing table more toward the center of the room. Once I get the two dressers out, that should be easier to do. Also I have quite a lot of quilting books still in the closet of the old room to bring over. I have an empty book shelf, but I am debating on if I want to give up the floor space for it. If I leave the books where they are, the are still accessible, but I don’t think to use them. I have this idea if they are within my line of sight, I might just use them to make something. So many patterns. If I was really industrious, I would list them for sale.

I wrote the above yesterday, and got most of the job done during the day, including the books. YAY! I really want to sew now. I think that will help me to settle into the new spot. It is set up mostly the same as the old spot, except that not as much is in the closet. I already had my yarn stash and extra personal quilts in the closet of the new room, I took out the section that was my son’s stuff and put most of my precuts and kits in there. I still have some miscellaneous crafty stuff in the old closet, and I think I’m going to use half of that closet for that. I just need to get more shelving brackets from the Container Store. I have to go over near there on Monday, so it’ll be my “fun” time allotment. If you haven’t been to the Container Store, its an organizers dream store. I leave there ready to organize my whole house, but then reality hits LOL.

I still need to hang up the pictures and quilts on the walls, but I worked so hard on the painting, I don’t want to make a hole in it yet.

This weekend is supposed to be hot here, upper nineties, but it’s a dry heat as they say. I am planning on finishing the quilting on the paper boats quilt and possibly getting another quilt on the frame. That may be Alaska, but then I would have to get the backing ready. I can’t remember if I got a 108″ wide, or if I bought yardage. I did unearth a few forgotten UFO’s with the move, maybe one of them will get finished. I am making head way on the cross stitch project too. I am am also contemplating making a wedding shawl for an up coming nuptial. Its a beautiful peacock feather pattern in lace weight. I think I’ll do a bit more learning research on Craftsy/Bluprint first.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for “Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?” today. She’s working on a cute Harry Potter quilt this week.

Be Kind

I finished my friends quilt last week. I think it came out pretty nice. It was a bit of a challenge at times, but as long as I stood there and carefully watched the machine, it went well.

The things that helped most were:

1. Basting top and side edges
2. Fluffy Batting – 50/50 wool poly
3. enlarging pantograph to 15″ wide
4. quilting the top the long way parallel to frame, it was rectangular, less rows
5. kneading the fabric as the machine quilted, I moved the fullness as the design stitched out, making some parts a bit more puffed.
6. Patience

These pictures are from the last row. I floated the top and pinned the last edge, I removed the pins as the machine neared them. The first picture on the left shows the fluffiness, the last one on the right shows the finished quilting. Once it was off the frame, I decided not to square it up. The outer borders were only about 4 inches wide, any cropping would make them look too small. I made binding from the extra backing fabric and applied it to the edges. Done, and sent back to my friend, it was a learning experience for me and I hope that she enjoys her finished quilt.

Meanwhile, I put together another paper boats quilt. This is a free pattern from Textillia https://tinyurl.com/y6extorc I have made it before, with the wave print fabric background, and a bunch of Cotton and Steel prints. Oh yeah, I wrote a blog post, Paper boats about it. I wanted to make another one for a friends new guest cottage. The cottage decor is all in blues, and my friend had seen the original boat quilt and admired it. This version uses a 108″ wide print from Connecting Threads, Faded Chambray, in denim, and a cute wordy print for the boats. I used most of the chambray print for the backing, as the top is 60″ square. The quilting on this is fun, a wave motif. I can block off (mask) the boats, so that the stitching looks like it is going around them.

This past weekend I have been painting my “new” sewing room. I have been wanting to move into my youngest sons bedroom for a while now. It is bigger than my current room, has a skylight and more wall space. My son is away at school for the next two years, so I figure that room shouldn’t be un-used. I got the ceiling done and the trim, I have to get more paint today to finish the walls. Then I’ll start moving my things across the hall. Such excitement!

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

Be Kind