Pillow Project completed

 Using scraps from a quilt that was made several years ago I finally made time to artistically morph a panel from a pillow into a complementary accoutrement for my boudoir.  lol   

Though it's small, I did hand applique, machine applique, Ink-tense penciled it (which I quickly eliminated) and then painted with pearlescent acrylic paints in a couple of places that I didn't care for to enhance my vision of it.  Lastly it was quilted in a pleasing enough playful designs for a FINISH.  

Since I didn't want to make another pillow form, I inserted a folded bath towel that was recycled from the totaled camper.  It works.

TTFN

Jane

Sliding my...

OMG to be my Feb-Mar OMG!  Fingers crossed with that timeline too!

Okay, since I did so well with a few of my goals in the past 3 months I listed four projects that I wnt to be done with this month.  I just realized last night (I know, slow learner here!) that I won't be able to get them done as I'm heading to Florida for two plus weeks to visit with my Mom and sister who lives an hour or so away her.  Am bringing some of my Buttermilk Basin Homestead Hearth blocks to work on while I'm with her. 

The only project that proceeded along was quilting with my domestic on the community quilt for one of my guilds.  I "pulled the trigger" and finally decided how to quilt it and I'm loving it so far. 







TTFN, Off to pack my bags. 

See you next month. 

Jane

Valentine's Wallhanging for January's OMG - a second one!

This simple panel wall hanging was sewn in 2016 and then... it sat.


Finally cleaning off my  sewing table and putting things away I ran across this older WIP  and since I now have room to work on it, it became my OMG (One Monthly Goal) to finish up for my January 2019!
Deciding to let the print motif create the quilting designs and then filling in backgrounds with simple meander stitching. 
First quilted perimeter

• Second did a circle design on the vase as if it was a hobnail vase.
• The flowers needed some detail quilting to show petals in a soft outline
• Hearts were edge stitched and then a soft scallop sewn around them imitating a lace edging
• The brown first border was edge stitched on both sides..
• Then the red border.....,   I was stumped.... and then I saw a panto graph that eluded to a heart sew by two rotations around with echoing, so I did my rendition of it.  One side the hearts are upside down. : /

 I'll show the back side illustrating the quilting details:

I LOVE IT and love that it's quilted!  Next the label, binding and hanging sleeve.....

Split hanging sleeve to accommodate two different modalities of display.

Just in time!

Is it perfect, heck no,

but Done is better than perfect and it will hang in the kitchen for February.

TTFN

Jane

Community quilts quilted

Another Project I wanted to clear up in December was quilting a community quilt for the WFQG was realized.    That's two of the three done and in the busiest month of the year.

Yippee!!!!!

I used Anne Bright's design as inspiration to do a meandering crayola with a brightly colored variegated thread.  Since there are numerous ladies who only do bindings for the guild, this will be shipped off to them at the January meeting.  I actually had this finished before the December meeting but with the excitement of the Christmas party, auction and other happenings, I left it on the living room chair when I left in the morning. ; (  It's only a 90-100 minutes away in one direction - so it'll have to wait until January to get out of here.  But Yee haw, Another one done!
Linking this up with AYLoF since that goal was met.

Am thinking of listing my goals come January with AYLoF and Angie at a Quilter readers garden because by continuing this practice, it's realized many times and it's a gentle push to get things done with the chance of a nice reward AND since I do have that procrastinator gene that I have no idea where I got it from it just what I need!
Editing this on 1/3/16 since the Holidays were super busy and I have con't health issues trying my patience again!

Forty Diamonds Finished!

Finally...... the Forty Diamonds Quilt is done - DONE.

84" x 102"

Made of batiks with a Minky backing

Quilted with Superior Lava,  #210 Coconut thread for both the top and bottom threads

 

 

Notice this is being done free hand. 
Disregard the old lady's hands, who in the world is she anyway?

Continued quilting with my version of a feathered Fat Comma (coined by me) and the whole kit and caboodle is quilted.   Started out by marking the squares and had such a time marking them that I ended up just quilting by free motion quilting. 

Not too bad if I do say so. 

Used the Quilter's Tips for the first time too for quilting and found them helpful.  Would you believe my nails broke through two of them already so they don't last long but at least my hands weren't overheated and clammy while quilting, a huge plus in my book.  If you remember this quilt was already in our Quilt show in 2013 but the only quilting I did was to echo the sashings for the show.  I know, How Embarrassing!  I will never do that to myself again....EVER!  Only two more quilts that need more quilting now.  Think I'll pick up the Tweet Camping next when I return from the quilt retreat I'll be attending shortly.


 

 

Note to self: When using minky, it's directional so make sure to keep the nap in mind if a back needs piecing together. 

 

When bringing the grandchildren to school this neighbor's property inspired me to stop.

The front of my home this am: About 3 more inches of that white crap.  It's Pretty, but am tired of this color and am thinking of some lovely green would be perfect right now. 












Their Mom had one of her early days so they went out to follow rabbits tracks while Meme made their pancakes. 
This is our back yard at 6:30  am.  I did take a couple of photos of the grandchildren out there too, but they were all too blurry so I deleted them. 


And yes Susan, this isn't a park but our back yard. We do appreciate it and love its' beauty when we rest since we're home gardeners and like to garden and landscape our turf.  We just don't care about mowing it all come summer since it takes about 4 hours+ to do with the trimming and we're not talking about the weeding yet.   We own a couple of waterfront acres in the Adirondacks, our slice of heaven (and sweat).   Notice the patio bar set lined up and waiting  under the eaves? 


Patience please patio stuff, not yet..... but soon....I hope.



Next on the agenda will be to use the hot tub.   It's close to 40 degrees outside  right now at 5 pm and besides being a really long day it'll be wonderful to de-stress.  I really don't know why I work myself up so over the quilting of my projects like I do.  TTFN....
Jane

February accomplishments

Yup, didn't quite get everything on my list accomplished but came so close that I'm happy,  extremely happy!

#1- I only got one color section quilted but the quilting design is top notch and I'm so happy with it.  What do you think?  My question now is for the diamond center, should I add another stitching surround within it?
Those feathered fat commas surrounding and spinning around the diamond is not my own design.  I did see a quilt with this on it at the Malone Quilt Show and snapped a picture.  Of Course after much distortion I had to draw it out and then go to my local copy center and have them print it to a 9 1/4" inch size when I was happy with it.  Then to make a template and mark the top was a learning experience in itself.
I know many of you  love those Frixion pens, but I personally don't care for them since where I live is in a cold climate for 5-6 months out of the year and I will even keep a quilt or two in the car for travel.  That being said those pen lines will surely reappear continuously and I can't have that.  I did use a chalk pencil for this first block and am thinking of trying the pounce with the iron off chalk for the next colored block to speed that process up.

While taking the photos, I couldn't see any of the stitching  or even that much chaulk left remnants, that's why I laid the stencil I cut on top so you could see the quartered design.   It really shows up differently here.  

 I'll be washing this quilt out after all the quilting is done.

Should another design be added to the centered diamond quilted shape?  

#2- Baby doll quilt that matches the baby quilt I made last fall was Totally done!  This was a first for me making those scrap bits of fabric into blocks to add to the fabric when I didn't have enough charm sized squares left.  Mile a minute block is what they are called I believe. Not bad if I do say so,  now all of that fabric is completely used up.  What a great feeling about that.  It also used pink for the backing which was the color for February in the RBSC another plus in my book.

The second blue colored row has a mismash of fabrics sewn together to get enough for the row.  

Cute messages about family, love and friends written on the white cloth strips.

Baby Quilt with a matching doll blanket for when the child grows up she'll have a blanket for her dollies like she had.
I think with the 24" x 24" size this could also double as the infant carrier cover first.

#3- Check!  Got all the white stitched on but there's a stitch count off somewhere in the snow area.  Don't know if it'll be crucial to repair since snow blows all over the place around here.  Think I'll try to work on the rest of this corner this next week to see what should be done as whether to rip it out or keep it and make it work.

#4- Check!  Made 36 HST with the pink, (four made of each pink fabric).  Glad I am keeping up with this challenge so far this year.

#5- Check!  Made a total of  7  pincushions.  Will be back to share those later on this week.



#6- Check! The Round House by Louise Erdrich was a good book that I enjoyed. Near the end of the book the main character was making 12 peanut butter and pickle sandwiches for a road trip.  Jackpot I thought!  That combination in a sandwich is one I have loved since I was a little girl.  I kid you not.  Peanut butter sandwiches with thin slices of Kosher Dill pickle are great.  So for a snack at our book club meeting, I made little sandwiches for the members to try.  One didn't care for them, 2 wouldn't even try them and some thought they were good and several ladies loved them.    More of the members loved them than didn't so that book and I have converted some more palettes to this combo.  Insert wicked laugh here.  Maw Haaaa!

Enjoy Your day.  Jane

Quilt Show Entry #5

 
Was a Jack in the Pulpit wall hanging.

 

  

The main panel in this was stenciled in 1998 and then it sat.  After getting the borders on a radiant star quilt that shares these fabrics, I was finally able to select which fabric this one called for and am pleased.

This one was finished in about 20 hours worth of time.  Now why did it wait for a decade and a half to get totally done? 

I swear this perfectionism thing is so crippling when it comes to creativity. 

Done is better than perfect any day.

 

For finishing a dark green flange edged between the first maroon border and this batik was the final border. 

For quilting, a meander around the centered stencil's background with an 100 weight ivory silk thread and Superior's Bottom line in the bobbin. For the maroon border, it was just echo quilted 1/4" away from the seam lines with a dual duty thread that matched that color the best. That left the outside border of batik to be quilted with a 100 weight dark green silk in a vine and leaf freehand motif where again a Bottom Line thread was in the bobbin.

All in all this one is pleasing and I am so happy it's done.  It amazed me during the layering process of my hesitation to use "good fabric" for the back and how crippled I became.  Since there really was no time to hesitate in that step I called my Mom after wishy washing for over an hour contemplating which fabrics to use and/or how to do the backing.   Her response was classic.

She said, "On No Janie.  Don't use that fabric.  Wait until you die so your daughter or Wayne can throw it in the trash bin or give it to someone else." 

Obviously I became strong and cut the fabric I wanted.   Will have to frame those words for future projects and reference to stop this paralyzing hesitation.  lol  

Only 2 left to share for entries.  Not sure when, there is more quilting that needs to be done on all three large quilts.  Am currently working on the Tweet Camping, quilting the dark brown sashings and inner borders right now.  Will show all of that when it is totally done.

My list of Four this week is;

1. June's Lil' Miss Shabby embroidery block
2. Brown sashing in Tweet camping quilted
3. Hem work Pants for son's friend
4. Carve a pumpkin

Of course I won't be listing all the other chores needed like chauffeuring, cleaning, cooking and  other hot spots that need action but I'll be making efforts there along with letting my body exercise which it so desires. 

Enjoy your week.  
Jane

 

Quilt Show entry #4 - All because of Trudy

My friend Trudy is a remarkable soul.  Her Birthday is today and I feel privileged to have her as a friend and a mentor.  This quilt otherwise known as Dragonfly Carnival, my fourth submission for our quilt show is the result of this friendship and came to be all because of Trudy.   I will hang it with love for all to see. 

 

To explain, here's a short narrative of this wall hanging.  I think it was in 2010 our circle of friends quilting group gathered at Trudy's house on Lake Champlain to work on a Ricky Timms' style Convergence wall hanging.  Yes, she's very hospitable and gracious that way.  We all brought fabric to work on and Trudy was teaching us since she had made several of these already.  Yes, she's an excellent teacher, so wise and can read people intuitively.   My fabrics wouldn't work well enough and Trudy gave me some of her Ricky Timms fabric to make mine, yes she is that generous and she had just returned from another of Ricky Timms conferences with another friend Cathy.   So we sewed, laughed and shared our day each making most of this.  Now during that time in my life I was still trying to "work with " all the medicines I need to take for the spinal cord injury and my brain was and still can be in a fog at times.  Not too many troubles though with sewing on it this that day and like all other days it came to an end. 

Life goes on... you know the drill.  Anyway, fast forward to the next year and while at a quilting retreat in Odgensburg I brought my wall hanging to work on since it languished as a UFO. Thankfully, I was sitting next to Trudy.   I assembled the center top and knew something was wrong with it but truly couldn't figure it out.  I pondered for about half an hour and  finally mentioned that I knew something was wrong it but with the Rx's and health issues I was just going to let it be and continue on with it having it represent the struggles I was dealing with.    She also noticed something amiss but didn't say anything and asked if she could look at it to figure it out.  Yep, she's that kind of person that knows yet doesn't force herself on you until asked.  Well she found the err in the construction and kindly offered her insight.  Being receptive to it, we ripped out the problem and I continued on sewing it together and being much happier now it proceeded.  Another weekend of sharing wonderful times with close friends.  That brings it to the next year when I finally made the time to lay out the fabrics to align colors best so it could be finished with the borders.  I know, I'm a slow stitcher and finisher but that truly is okay with me.  It was sewed all together and there it sat again while I  dreamt on about it.  There it was as a top, now what to quilt on it? 

 

 

 

 

Ahhh, finally inspiration came, dragonflies! A spirited symbol that  she and I both admire. Off again on my merry way until the time to quilt the borders and there it sat. So I registered this wall hanging in June for the October quilt show to push me to get 'er done and stop this dalliance.

 

 

The above photo shows a dragonfly head that I wasn't super happy with and was working on.  It looked like a derriere(or breasts) with eyeballs stuck on it!   What's that phrase I use lately?  oh yea,  "perfectionism is a very crippling agent to creativity".  Anyway I progressed along with the deadline looming ever closer.  The next photo  shows a couple of the dragonflies and you can click on any of the images to get a better glimpse of the details if you wish.

 

Next came the finishing touches, piping and binding on it.  Here's where I shared a peek about it in a September post.   

 

 

The label was made when I was feeling silly I guess, it really stretched out my artist's skills, lol.

 

So here she is- the fourth quilt show entry and it's all because of Trudy- the Dragonfly Carnival.

. 

 

Thanks my dear friend and Happy Birthday!  I Love you loads!

Jane

Quilt show entries, First one- "Tweet Camping"

Thank goodness our local quilt show isn't a judged show, otherwise most of my entries would have been shown to the door.  And no, I am not kidding!   Our show has many ribbons that people can win and people with all kinds of areas, expertise and backgrounds are asked to pick their favorite.  Of course some picks are spectacularly done quilts, well deserving of their awards while some others are nice quilts, but not as great as some that are just as well deserving IMHO.    The show kept taking my breath away with the many and varietied quilts shown.   I also would be remiss not to  mention that a good friend, Michele won a well deserved ribbon for her New York Beauty Quilt entry (Talk about Gorgeous!!!) and my granddaughter won a ribbon for her first Doll Quilt. 

Well done Michele, McKenna and fellow members of CVQG of NY!

 

I did the bare minimum for quilting because I procrastinated way too long.  

When I registered them in June, I figured they  would be done for the show.   

I had 5, Yep,  I said 5 UFOS that I entered. 

I figured that by committing them to be there, I'd get them done.  ROTFLOL!!!!

 

But I swear

I will never,

EVER!

I mean NEVER EVER!!  do this to myself again!!!

 

So this post will share the parts about

 

"Tweet Camping"

 

This quilt came to be  because I found this Bird fabric at my LQS and fell in Love with it.   The pattern design was inspired by a connecting threads kit I saw in their catolog but the dimensions wouldn't work because it was a baby quilt and the much smaller blocks wouldn't play well with this fabric so  I played with lots of math to make my own.  With the pattern, I really like the fact that all of those rectangles were being stacked and packed so to speak (a much needed choir when it comes to camping) so it seemed a perfect fit especially with the wobbliness of those stacks tottering.  Shopping my stash first,  then shopping for  a few more batiks to throw in for good measure gives this quilt a bit of color and punch.  I find projects made from different fabric lines is very appealing.  Quickly,  I even envisioned having shipping peanuts (circular shaped packing protectors) quilted in the white background areas with much more quilting done for the boxes, sashings and borders. So off it went.

 

 

 

What I was able to get done was quilt a "linking squares" meander  in the outside blue borders 

with the "peanut packing" for the white areas. 

Running out of time, I had to leave the rest of the quilting for when I have more time after the show. 

Thankfully it hung well enough at the show not to be too huge of an embarrassment.   A vanilla cream, minkee dot was used for this back which makes it a very cuddly and drapable quilt.  

 

 

Close up shots of the quilting in the border, white spacings while I was auditioning bindings.  

Quilting was done with a Universal needle without any problems

using the minkee dot backing, as for the threads, many were used. 

 

In the borders a Superior Lava Thread called KuKui Nut (soft browns) was used for the top and bobbin.

In the white background a Superior's Kimono white silk(color 373) for the top and

 Superior's White Bottom Line in the bobbin.

I'm thinking of dong a back and forth motion in the sashings and perhaps cross haches in the stacked boxes but am unsure what to do in the bird focal fabric.  Any and all ideas or suggestions are welcome.  What would you do? 

 

 

 

 

I love having piping or flanges on many of my projects, but elected not to on this one and just finished it simply by using the striped fabric that went with this fabric line called  "Love Lives Here" by P. Carter Carpin by P&B textiles.    I love this bird print and it fit the bill nicely for the For the Birds hop I participated in earlier this year.  Another tidbit to share is how a different label was made for it.  I folded 2 blocks with some sashing from that row I took off the quilt since it was really too long before borders and turned them into a label.  If there is any damage in the years to come, that label can help with many of the fabrics contained within.  Also a strip of the selvage from that fabric line was used too as to document more of the information and who wouldn't like the motto "love lives here".

Here's how it looks:

 

 

 

To the left of those stacked blocks is the date, quilt name, place done and maker's name documented centered with more brown and blue fabrics.
 This is the largest label I've ever made, it's huge 14"x 12".

 

 Finally I'll share a shot of "Herman" the weeping cedar bush near the pool deck, showing Tweet Camping in the backyard where love lives here.

Tweet Camping
88" x 88"
 

I'll share more of the quilts that were entered by me bit by bit. Sorry this was photo heavy but I wanted documentation for  future reference.  First item on my agenda this week will be to quilt the sashings on this quilt and read the book The Saving Graces which our club meets on Wednesday to discuss.  I totally slid on my reading while focusing on getting ready for the show.  Enjoy your Holiday. 

Jane    8^)

Humming along

 






Close up of the quilt pattern in the radiant star.........

 

Petal to the metal ...........

 

Will be getting this done by Thursday!!!! 

 

Jane

 

 

Progress.

No kidding- The first item listed for April is finished!  Of course it was on my March list but was carried over this month.  I was able to hand stitch the facing this AM after getting the hemming done last night while watching Flight with Denzel Washington.   

There is no school this week, so the littlest grandchildren are here for several days.  I remember when my own children were young, I could sew and crank out a new wearing apparal in one night. 

I found this pattern not  too clear and specific for me while sewing it.  I had to reread the directions, scan ahead to see what they were talking about and rethink the directions continuously!  I even had some ripping out to do in one section.  Grrr!!!  Hopefully with the next one I have planned in a different colorway this month will be much smoother sailing. 




April's color for Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC13) is green - just the color I love!  I've been pondering which block to make still and perhaps I'll keep it easy and just make 4 HST of each color.   The other colors already assigned a month this year are purple, orange and pink.   Need to get off the fence and just DO IT!

 

Also Kristy from Quiet Play has shared a And Sew On paper piece block each month.  April's block called  "Not for paper" or even could be called "Snip It Real Good"  block #4 pattern has been released so now that makes me 3 blocks behind in that BOM.   My BOMs have slid off my radar and I hope to pick them back up soon. 

Here's what the expected pattern all assembled  will look like. 















Not sure yet  how this will be used, but I'm enjoying rekindling my love of paper piecing.  I have a couple of Eileen Sullivan's patterns all kitted that I'd like to get to and this is a perfect refresher with cute outcomes.  





Next focus project will be to finish the quilting on my wall hanging.   Here's a peak at the backing I'm using. Colorful isn't it. It actually has been in my stash for 30 years or very close to that.  Remember when the kids loved their jamms?  For those of you younger and didn't live through that time it was a loose longer boxer shorts made out of vibrant and out of this world prints, the wilder the better, you guessed it, one of mine loved the pair of shorts made from this print.  Can't believe I had enough for the backing and this bit is still what left.  I think I'll be making some simple community project blocks with a vanilla surround to usse it up. 
What til you see how I'm quilting it. Promise, will share more later.

TTFN,
Jane